Francesco Acerbi was born on 10 February 1988 in Vizzolo Predabissi, near Milan. He came through the lower divisions of Italian football with Pavia and Reggina, joined Genoa in 2011 and briefly played for AC Milan before settling at Sassuolo, where his career was nearly cut short — in 2013 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent chemotherapy from January to March 2014.
Returning to football, he became a fixture at Lazio between 2018 and 2022, winning the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana, before joining Inter Milan on loan in September 2022. The transfer was made permanent in summer 2023, and at Inter he has won Serie A in 2023-24 and 2025-26, multiple Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana trophies, and reached the 2023 and 2025 Champions League finals. In the 2025 semi-final, aged 37, he became the second-oldest goalscorer in a Champions League semi-final.
For Italy, Acerbi was part of the squad that won Euro 2020 and has earned around 35 caps, and he was knighted as Cavaliere dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2021 in recognition of that achievement.
A 1.92 m left-footed centre-back, Acerbi combines old-school physicality with the composure to play out from defence, and is widely admired for the resilience he showed in returning to play at the highest level after his cancer treatment.