Ignazio Abate

Early career

Abate started playing football with amateur club Rescaldina, before joining AC Milan's youth system in 1999. During the 2003–04 season, he made his professional debut, playing in a Coppa Italia game against Sampdoria on 3 December. He made his debut, in European competitions, in a Champions League group-stage game versus Celta Vigo on 9 December. In that match, he set the record as the youngest Milan player to ever play in the UEFA Champions League, at 17 years and 27 days.

Various loan spells (2004–2007)

For the 2004–05 season, he was loaned out to Napoli in Serie C1, where he made 29 appearances and scored 2 goals. Initially set to spend the 2005–06 season on loan at Serie A side Sampdoria, his proposed loan to the Blucerchiati was terminated by his parent club, who then loaned him to Serie B side Piacenza, where he made 13 appearances. The following campaign was more successful for the young winger, who made 38 appearances during his loan spell at Modena.

Serie A debut (2007–2009)

In the 2007–08 season, Abate eventually made his Serie A debut, after being acquired by Empoli in a co-ownership deal, for €900,000. That year, he also scored his first goal in Serie A, in a match against Genoa, on 27 April 2008. Following Empoli's relegation, Milan fully purchased him for €2 million as well as Luca Antonini for €2.75M (and sold Nicola Pozzi and Lino Marzoratti for €4.75M total fee) only to send him to Torino in another co-ownership deal,…

After playing at various levels of youth international football for Italy, at under-19 and under-20 level, Abate made his debut with the Italian under-21 side in a friendly against Luxembourg, coming off the bench during the second half, on 12 December 2006. With the Olympic national team coached by Casiraghi, he won the 2008 Toulon Tournament, in which he played four games and scored a goal against the United States. He also took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He then participated in the 2009 European U-21 Championship held in Sweden, making two appearances as Italy reached the semi-finals. Abate made his senior international debut for Italy in November 2011, in a friendly match against Poland. Abate was a member of the Italian squad that reached the UEFA Euro 2012 final. Abate also took part in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup for Italy, making three appearances in the group stage before suffering an injury which kept him out of the semi-finals, as Italy went on to win a bronze medal. Nearly two years after his debut, Abate scored his first international goal in a friendly match against Germany in November 2013, which ended in a 1–1 draw. He was part of Cesare Prandelli's 23-man Italy squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil, making one appearance throughout the tournament, in Italy's 1–0 defeat against Costa Rica in their second group match, as Italy were eliminated in the group stage.

On 2 July 2021, Abate was appointed as AC Milan's under-16 side coach. In the 2021–22 season, he led Milan U16 to reach the league final, then lost to Roma. On 5 July 2022, Milan announced Abate's promotion as coach of the under-19 side. On 21 June 2024, Abate took on his first head coaching role, becoming the new manager of Serie C club Ternana. On 6 February 2025 Ternana sacked Abate, only to rehire him the following day. He was sacked once again on 1 April 2025, following a 1–4 loss against Lucchese, despite the team being in second place in the league only behind Virtus Entella. On 18 June 2025, Abate was announced as the new head coach of Serie B club Juve Stabia.

Abate and his wife Valentina have three sons, Matteo (born 19 November 2011), Andrea (born 14 May 2013) and Benjamin (born 23 February 2018). The couple got married on 18 June 2015.