In 1994, Emerson was born in Santos, Brazil. His parents were also Brazilian, of course, so they could never even think that their son Emerson would grow to become a professional footballer, move to Italy, become an Italian citizen, play for Italy and win the UEFA Euro 2020 with Italy.
And those parents probably didn’t envisage their boy would go on to lift the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Emerson Palmieri, West Ham’s defender, is now the only player to win five UEFA competitions.
Playing for Chelsea, Palmieri won the Europa League in 2019 by beating Arsenal in the final.
Two years later, he got his hands on the Champions League when the Blues edged past Manchester City, and he followed it up with the Super Cup win over Villarreal.
Between those titles, he was a part of the Italian national team that beat England at Wembley to become Europe’s best national side. Palmieri moved to West Ham, and UEFA introduced a new club competition – the Europa Conference League.
And sure enough, if a trophy is to be won – Palmieri will find his way to it. On Wednesday night, he lifted the trophy after the 2-1 win over Fiorentina.
The only UEFA trophy Palmieri is missing is the UEFA Nations League. Although Gli Azzurri will participate in the final tournament next week, the Brazilian-born star wasn’t called up and will have to wait at least two more years to complete the set.
