Antonella Del Core

Antonella Del Core was an Italian volleyball spiker. She started practicing sports from an early age and originally concentrated on athletics, particularly hurdling. She then followed in the footsteps of her brothers and took up volleyball. She made her début in the Italian Championship in the 1997/98 season with the Ester Volleyball Center of Napoli, where she stayed until 2001, except for one season when she played for Club Italia. Having joined the Italian youth national teams, she won a bronze medal in the Under-18 Championship in 1997 and a gold medal at the European Under-19 Championship the following year.

Del Core moved to Robursport Volley Pesaro in Serie A2 for the 2001/02 season and remained for five seasons, winning the A2 Italian Cup and promotion to Serie A1. She also won the CEV Cup in 2006. During this period she also got her first call-up to the senior National team, making her début in 2004, and competed at the Athens Olympics that year. She won a silver medal at the 2005 European Championships in Croatia, as well as winning several medals at the World Grand Prix.

A move to Volleyball Sirio Perugia In the 2006/07 season saw Del Core add to her trophy collection with the Italian Championship, Champions League, CEV Cup, and an Italian Super Cup. With the national team she won a gold medal at the 2007 European Championships in Belgium and Luxembourg, and also at the World Cup in Japan. The following year, after winning bronze at the World Grand Prix, she was found to have a heart problem just before the Beijing Olympics and was forced to stop the sport for a bit.

Del Core returned to full health and in the 2008/09 season moved to Volley Bergamo and won two Champions’ League titles, and with the national team won gold at the Europeans and also won the Grand Champions Cup, as well as a bronze in the World Grand Prix, in 2010. Shortly afterwards she left Italy to play in the Turkish Championship with Eczacıbaşı Spor Kulübü, with whom she won the Turkish Cup.

In 2011 she won the World Cup for the second consecutive time with the Italian national team. She moved to Russia for the 2011/12 season and joined Ženskij volejbol’nyj klub Fakel, and the following season moved to Volejbol’nyj klub Zareč’e Odincovo before another move to Ženskij volejbol’nyj klub Dinamo-Kazan, with whom she won the Champions League and Club World Cup for the fourth time in 2014. Del Core captained the Italian team at the 2016 Rio Olympics and after the Games announced her retirement from the sport.