Sergio Pellissier

Pellissier made five appearances for the Italy national under-17 football team between April and May 1997; he scored no goals for the Italian under-17 side. In May 2009, Pellissier received his first call up to the Italian senior national team by coach Marcello Lippi to play in a friendly against Northern Ireland. In the match, on 6 June, he entered as a substitute for Giampaolo Pazzini in the 62nd minute and scored a goal 11 minutes later in the 3–0 win. Regarding his debut with the national squad, he stated: "It's a dream that came true. L'azzurra is the cherry on the cake of an extraordinary season. However the merit is not mine, but all Chievo's." This was Pellissier's only senior appearance for Italy.

Early career

Pellissier was born in Aosta and grew up in Fénis. He started playing football in the Aosta Valley. He was 12 when he scored three goals against Torino in a tournament in Nus and Fénis for the local team Fenusma, and Torino showed interest on him. He then moved alone to Turin, but after some time he wanted to return to his home; when Pellissier was 14, he returned definitively to Torino. He made his senior debut and played one match in Serie B during the 1996–97 season against Salernitana. In 1998, Pellissier was on the team that won the under-21 tournament Torneo di Viareggio, and also appeared in a match of 1998–99 Coppa Italia. He moved on loan to the Serie C1 side Varese, where he made 53 appearances and scored nine goals between September 1998 and 2000.

Chievo

2002–2011

Pellissier was signed by Chievo in 2000, but was loaned to Ferrara-based club SPAL during his first year with the Verona-based side; during his one and a half seasons with SPAL, he scored 17 goals in 44 appearances. He then returned to Chievo for the 2002–03 season, making his Serie A debut on 22 September 2002, when he played for 46 minutes in a 2–1 loss against Brescia. On 3 November, Pellissier played as a 63rd-minute substitute for Luigi Beghetto and scored his first goal in Serie A, that was also the only in that match against Parma During that season, he played 25 matches in the league and scored five goals—two of which were scored in consecutive matches…

A versatile forward, Pellissier is capable of playing anywhere along the front line, although he usually plays in a free role as a second striker, a position in which he prefers to play alongside a larger, and more physically gifted centre-forward, due to his ability to link-up with other players and create chances for his teammates. He is also able to be deployed as an out-and-out striker, or as a right winger, due to his tendency to drift out wide, and then cut into the centre to strike on goal with his stronger left foot. Due to his elevation and heading accuracy, he excels in the air; he is also known for his speed, both on and off the ball, as well as his agility. Possessing a keen eye for goal, Pellissier is also an accurate striker of the ball from both inside and outside the penalty area, and has drawn praise in the media over his defensive work-rate and movement off the ball, as well as his ability to make late runs into the box and either get onto the end of passes or create space for his teammates. He has also stood out for his longevity, leadership, and loyalty throughout his career.

Following his retirement, Pellissier stayed at Chievo as the club's new technical area coordinator, being assisted by Giorgio De Giorgis for transfer market-related duties. He left Chievo by the end of the 2020–21 season due to disagreements with the board. He successively accepted to join Rovigo as the club's new general director, a role he kept for a very brief amount of time due to regulations preventing from being contracted for two separate league clubs. Later in the summer of 2021, ChievoVerona were expelled from Serie B as a result of financial irregularities relating to missing tax payments. This meant that the club was essentially bankrupt and needed new owners to restart in Serie D. Pellissier led the search for a new ownership group, but was unsuccessful. On 21 August 2021, Pellissier announced that ChievoVerona would cease to exist in an Instagram post, calling it "one of the saddest days of my life." He then decided to found a new club himself, named Chievo 2021, which was admitted to the Terza Categoria for the 2021–22 season. The club was then renamed to Clivense following a legal warning from Chievo's chairman and owner Luca Campedelli. The club won promotion to the Seconda Categoria on their debut season, with a 43-year old Pellissier playing in the final league game and scoring two goals in a 5–0 win, and successively entered the Eccellenza after having acquired the sporting rights of San Martino Speme.