Anthony Racioppi became the third choice goalkeeper at Olympique Lyonnais in the 2018-19 season. For the time being, the twenty-one year old gets most of his action with the reserve team playing in the National 2 division as his rise through the ranks is blocked by Anthony Lopes and Ciprian Tătărușanu.
However, Racioppi is respectively eight and thirteen years younger than that duo, so if he bides his time and continues to improve then his opportunity will come. He has already been included in Swiss national squads at various age-group levels.
Racioppi was first spotted by Lyon as a schoolboy in Geneva where he was playing youth football with CS Chenois. He signed a contract with Lyon and moved to the city but FIFA rules regarding the international transfer of minors meant that he was initially barred from appearing for the club’s youth teams.
After a long period of training but no matches, Racioppi was loaned to FC Annecy in the 2013-14 season, for whom he was permitted to play competitive youth team football because the town is located within 50 km of the Swiss border. He had a successful season there and received his first call up to the Swiss U17 squad.
Back at Lyon in 2015 Racioppi was finally able to become fully integrated into the youth setup leading to his first professional contract being signed with the club in October 2017. He has become a regular between the sticks for the reserve team since then and it’s surely only a matter of time until he gets a taste of first team action, having made several appearances on the bench over the past three seasons.
UPDATE:
Racioppi left Lyon in late September 2020 to sign for Dijon, where he joined up with former Lyon goalkeeping coach Gregory Coupet, who had made the same move earlier that summer.
Date of Birth: 31/12/1998
Place of Birth: Geneva
Nationality: Swiss
Joined OL: 2012
Previous teams:
CS Chenois
FC Annecy