David Pizarro

Early career and Inter Milan

Pizarro began his career at Santiago Wanderers in his hometown Valparaíso. After a season playing at Seaport Team since his promotion to the first-adult team in 1997, he joined Udinese of the Italian Serie A. In 2001, he was loaned to Chilean powerhouse Universidad de Chile to gain experience. Once back in Friuli, he settled as the Udinese's starting central midfielder, performing well during his five seasons there. On 14 July 2005, Pizarro joined Inter Milan for a reported €10 million transfer (plus half the rights of striker Goran Pandev, whom Lazio purchased one year later for €4 million) on a four-year contract. At Inter, he failed to repeat his successful campaigns at Udinese, at times being overshadowed by Argentine star Juan Sebastián Verón. Nonetheless, Pizarro won the 2005–06 Serie A with Inter, plus the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana.

Roma

On 19 August 2006, Roma acquired 50% of Pizarro's rights, agreeing to a €6.5 million transfer fee for a four-year co-ownership deal. On his arrival, he chose shirt number 7 and reunited with his former head coach at Udinese, Luciano Spalletti. On 12 September 2006, Pizarro scored his first competitive goal for Roma in a 4–0 UEFA Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the 89th minute. Five days later, he scored twice in a 3–1 Serie A win over Siena. He also helped Roma win the 2006–07 Coppa Italia title, where was one of the team top-scorers with three goals. On 20…

At youth level, Pizarro represented Chile at under-17 level in the 1995 South American Championship and at under-20 level in the 1999 South American Championship. At senior level, Pizarro began his international career in 1999. After being one of the best players of the South American Youth Championship that year, Chile manager Nelson Acosta gave him an opportunity in the senior team. He played in the 1999 Copa America and also the 2000 Summer Olympics, where he won the bronze medal. He also participated in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup qualifiers, with Chile failing to qualify on both occasions. In 2001, he made an appearance for Chile B in the friendly match against Catalonia on 28 December. After failing to qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Pizarro announced his retirement from international football, listing several reasons for his decision. He disliked ex-coach Juvenal Olmos and ex-association president Reinaldo Sánchez.4 Also, he believed the players on the national team played solely to gain popularity. He also said he wished to spend more time with his family. On 20 May 2013, Pizarro was called up to the national team for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, returning to the Chile squad after having meetings with head coach Jorge Sampaoli, thus ending his eight-year absence from international football. After failing to be named to Chile's 23-man squad list for the World Cup, he was part of the 2015 Copa América-winning squad.

Source:

Club

As of 12 August 2018

International

Scores and results list Templatonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pizarro goal.

His father, David Pizarro Inostroza, is a former amateur midfielder who played for Caupolicán from Caleta El Membrillo, Valparaíso, the club where David Marcelo started to play football. His son, Bastián David Pizarro Gómez, born in 2003 in Udine, is a footballer trained at Everton de Viña del Mar and Santiago Wanderers who returned to Italy in 2024 to play for Fiumicino. In August 2025, he switched to AS Pescatori Ostia.