Leonardo Bonucci (Italian pronunciation: [leoˈnardo boˈnuttʃi]; born 1 May 1987) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the assistant coach of the Italy national under-20 team and technical assistant of the Italy national team. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, Bonucci was known for his technique, ball-playing skills, tackling and his ability to play in either a three or four-man defence.
After beginning his career with Inter Milan in 2005, Bonucci spent the next few seasons on loan at Treviso and Pisa, before moving to Bari in 2009. His defensive performances alongside fellow Italian centre-back Andrea Ranocchia earned him a move to Juventus the following season, where he later became a key member of the club's three-man defensive line, alongside Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli, establishing himself as one of the best defenders in world football. Among other titles, he went on to win six consecutive Serie A titles with the team between 2012 and 2017, having also played two UEFA Champions League finals in 2015 and 2017. In 2017, he moved to AC Milan, and one season later returned to Juventus, winning two more consecutive league titles.
Internationally, Bonucci earned over 120 caps for Italy between his senior debut in 2010 up until 2023, representing his country at two FIFA World Cups (2010 and 2014), three UEFA European Championships, (2012, 2016, and 2020), and a FIFA Confederations Cup (2013); he won Euro 2020, earned a runners-up medal at Euro 2012, and claimed a third-place medal at the 2013 Confederations Cup.
Bonucci also won several individual honours for his performances: he was named to the UEFA Europa League Squad of the season during the 2013–14 and 2017–18 seasons, and was a four-time member of the Serie A Team of the Year. He was named the Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2016, and was also included in the UEFA Team of the Year in the same season. In 2017 and 2021, Bonucci was included in the FIFA FIFPro World11 and the IFFHS Men's World Team. He was also selected to the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League Team of the Season and the 2016–17 ESM Team of the Year.
Bonucci started his career in the youth ranks of his hometown club Viterbese but was loaned to Inter Milan in the summer of 2005. He played a number of pre-season friendlies for the Inter first team. He then became a member of the Inter U20 team.
On 14 May 2006, Bonucci made his Serie A debut in the last match of the 2005–06 season, in a 2–2 away draw against Cagliari, which was Inter's 3,500th competitive match. On 7 July 2006, Inter bought Bonucci outright.
He played his first Coppa Italia match against Messina on 9 November 2006 when he came off the bench for Fabio Grosso in the 86th minute. Bonucci featured in two more Coppa Italia games for Inter that season when he was brought on for the substituted Walter Samuel at half-time during the quarter-final second leg match against Empoli, and as a starter in the semi-final second leg tie against Sampdoria.
In January 2007, Inter sold 50% of Bonucci's registration rights to Treviso, along with 50% of the registration rights for fellow Primavera team-mate Daniel Maa Boumsong. At that time Bonucci was tagged for a peppercorn fee of €500. Bonucci subsequently remained at Inter until 30 June 2007 while Maa Boumsong returned from Treviso where he spent the first half of the season on loan. During Bonucci's last season with the Inter's youth side, he won the Campionato Nazionale Primavera (the national youth league title).
On 1 July 2007, Bonucci and Maa Boumsong formally became players of Treviso after their loan contract back to Inter had expired, as well as the renewal of the co-ownerships in June 2007. At Treviso, Bonucci made 20 starts in 27 Serie B appearances as one of the regular starters.
In June 2008, among the other Inter youth products, Bonucci was the only player that was bought back from Treviso. However, he was loaned back to Treviso for the 2008–09 season. According to a Treviso filing named Tabella N°5 – circolare Co.Vi.So.C. prot. N°4051.4/GC/pc del 11 maggio 2005 in their 2007–08 financial report, Bonucci was sold for a €700,000 fee.
Bonucci played 13 Serie B matches for Treviso before leaving for another fellow Serie B side Pisa on loan.
On 8 June 2009, Bonucci underwent a medical examination at Genoa. On 1 July, Inter officially announced that Bonucci, along with Acquafresca, Bolzoni and Meggiorini had been transferred to Genoa, as part of the deal that sent Diego Milito and Thiago Motta to Inter. Moreover, Ivan Fatić who was co-contracted ("co-owned") between Chievo and Inter, became co-contracted between Chievo and Genoa instead, according to a news article by La Gazzetta dello Sport. Bonucci was valued at €3 million at that time.
On 2 July, he was transferred to Bari from Genoa, on a co-ownership deal, for €1.75 million, along with Meggiorini (also on a co-ownership deal), Matteo Paro (on loan), Andrea Ranocchia (on loan) and Giuseppe Greco (on loan).
At Bari he became a first team player in central defence under head coach Gian Piero Ventura, showing a composed yet strong and effective defensive playing style. He formed an extremely strong defensive partnership with Andrea Ranocchia which was so effective that, as of the midway point in the 2009–10 season, Bari had the second best defensive record in Serie A. The strong partnership ended after Ranocchia got injured half-way through the season and was ruled out for the remaining fixtures.
On 1 July 2010, Bonucci was signed by Juventus on a four-year contract for a total of €15.5 million fee from Bari; Bari bought Bonucci from Genoa outright for €8 million. However, Genoa and Bari used part of the transfer receivables to sign the remaining 50% registration rights of Domenico Criscito and 50% of the registration rights of Sergio Bernardo Almirón from Juventus. Bonucci was assigned the shirt number 19.
Partnered with Italy teammate Giorgio Chiellini in defence, Bonucci was immediately drafted into the starting line-up for the first matches of the season making his competitive debut at Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League and scoring his first goal for Juventus in the Europa League play-off match against Sturm Graz.
The following season, due to the presence of veteran of Andrea Barzagli, it was expected that Bonucci would compete with him for a starting place alongside Chiellini in a four-man defence, as the club's new manager Antonio Conte was known for his preference for the 4–2–4 formation, a variant upon the 4–4–2 formation. However, after experimenting with several tactical systems, Conte eventually decided to play all three players in a three-man defence aided by wingbacks in a 3–5–2 formation, and Bonucci established himself once again in the starting eleven alongside Chiellini and Barzagli. Due to their performances together, the three-man defence earned the nickname BBC, a reference to the players' initials. Soon, the trio established themselves as one of the best defences in world football during the following seasons. On 2 April 2012 Juventus announced that he had signed a new 5-year contract effective on 1 July 2012. Bonucci won his first major title, the 2011–12 Scudetto, and contributed two goals as Juventus finished the season undefeated and with one of the best defensive records in the top five European leagues. His good form that season earned him a place in the final UEFA Euro 2012 squad.
Bonucci began the season by winning the 2012 Supercoppa Italiana with Juventus. He made his Champions League debut against Chelsea in the group stage and scored his first goal in the competition against Shaktar Donetsk in October 2012 in a 1–1 draw. In December 2012 Bonucci was criticized for diving in a league game against Palermo on which was described by a number of journalists as "the worst dive ever". He was booked by the referee during the game and subsequently given a one-match ban and a €2000 fine by the authorities. Juventus finished the season by winning the 2012–13 Serie A title.