Sebastian Giovinco

Juventus

Youth career and professional debut with Juventus

After joining the Juventus youth system, Giovinco flourished through the ranks of the club and impressed especially during the 2005–06 season, winning the Campionato Nazionale Primavera, as well as the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Primavera, and also reaching the final at the Viareggio Tournament, where he was named best player of the competition. Giovinco was promoted to the first team during the 2006–07 season and also played his last season in the Primavera squad. His professional debut came on 12 May 2007, in the Serie B match against Bologna; he came on as a substitute in place of Raffaele Palladino, and marked his first appearance with an assist for David Trezeguet's tap-in. Since then, he had been tipped to be Alessandro Del Piero's heir in the creative number 10 role behind the main striker, known as the trequartista, rifinitore, or fantasista, in Italian. Juventus won the Serie B title that season, earning promotion to Serie A the following season.

Loan to Empoli

On 4 July 2007, Giovinco was loaned out to Empoli. He made his Serie A debut on 26 August, coming on as a substitute against Fiorentina. Giovinco scored his first Serie A goal on 30 September against Palermo in a 3–1 win. He made his European debut in the UEFA Cup on 4 October against Zürich. Giovinco finished his first season in Serie A with 6 goals in 35 appearances, and was given the Leone d’Argento award, by the…

Youth career

Giovinco represented Italy at every youth category from the under-16 level onwards. He was called up to the Italy under-21 side by head coach Pierluigi Casiraghi to make his U21 debut in the 2009 European Championship opening qualifier on 1 June 2007, and helped in their 4–0 defeat of Albania.

Giovinco also played at the 2008 Toulon Tournament, where he appeared in all five matches, and was voted the most valuable player of the competition, scoring two goals in the opening game against the Ivory Coast, and netting the winning penalty in the semi-final shoot-out against Japan. Italy ultimately won the competition, defeating Chile 1–0 in the final. That summer, Giovinco, alongside Juventus teammates Claudio Marchisio and Paolo De Ceglie, were named in the Italy squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. On 7 August 2008, he scored the opening goal in a 3–0 win against Honduras in the first match of the competition, where he struck the ball from outside of the box with his weaker left foot; Italy were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the competition, following a 3–2 loss to Belgium on 16 August. In the summer of 2009, Giovinco was called up to the under-21 side for the European Championship in Sweden, after playing a part in their successful qualifying campaign. Giovinco started in every single match at the tournament, but Italy lost to eventual winners Germany 1–0 in a tightly contested semi-final. Due to his performances throughout the…

Giovinco was born in Turin to a Sicilian father, Giovanni, originally from Bisacquino in the province of Palermo, and a Calabrian mother, Elvira, originally from Catanzaro, who moved from Southern Italy. He grew up in Beinasco, a comune southwest of the city, in a family of Milan fans, and joined the Juventus youth system in 1996, when he was nine. His younger brother Giuseppe was also part of the Juventus Youth Academy and currently plays in Serie C.

In May 2013, Sebastian and his partner Sharj Milano celebrated the birth of their first child, Jacopo; the couple have been in a relationship since 2007. Their daughter Alma was born in Toronto in August 2016. Giovinco features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he appeared on the cover of the MLS custom edition of FIFA 16. Giovinco has made Toronto his adopted home, having played for TFC. In 2022, Giovinco joined Juventus' Toronto Academy as part of their coaching staff.