.jpg) Cacace in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Liberato Gianpaolo Cacace[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (2000-09-27)27 September 2000 (age 25) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Wellington, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Left-back | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Wrexham | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2015 | Island Bay United | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Wellington Phoenix Reserves | 23 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2020 | Wellington Phoenix | 58 | (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020–2022 | Sint-Truiden | 50 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | →Empoli (loan) | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2025 | Empoli | 74 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Wrexham | 12 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | New Zealand U17 | 8 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | New Zealand U20 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019– | New Zealand U23 | 2 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018– | New Zealand | 33 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 31 January 2026 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 27 March 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Liberato Gianpaolo Cacace (/kəˈkɑːtʃi/kə-KAH-chee;[2] born 27 September 2000) is a New Zealand professionalfootballer who plays as aleft-back forEFL Championship clubWrexham and theNew Zealand national team.[3]
As a youth, Cacace played forIsland Bay United[4] and was also a representative player ofCapital Football for two years in their 1999 squad.[5] He was chosen by formerWellington Phoenix andAll Whites coachRicki Herbert to be part of his junior elite academy.[5]
Cacace also played for his school team atSt Patrick's College inWellington, alongside South Sudan internationalManyumow Achol. Cacace helped his college team win the Wellington Premier Youth football league, scoring in the 2–1 final againstHutt International Boys' School.[6]
Cacace started playing for theWellington Phoenix Reserves in theNew Zealand Football Championship in the2016–17 season, making eight appearances, including four starts.[7]
During the winter season, Cacace played with Wellington Phoenix feeder clubWellington United in the localCentral League.[8]
On 2 February 2018, Cacace made his debut for the senior side, coming on as a substitute in a 4–0 defeat againstSydney FC in theA-League.[9][10] Following the end of the2017–18 A-League season, and having made seven appearances for the club, Cacace signed a three-year professional contract with Wellington Phoenix.[11]
In the2018–19 season, following the departure ofScott Galloway and injury toTom Doyle, Cacace became the first-choiceleft-back under new managerMarko Rudan, one month after his 18th birthday.[12] Cacace scored his maidenA-League goal againstCentral Coast Mariners in an 8-2 victory on 9 March 2019, becoming the club's youngest ever goalscorer at 18 years and 163 days.[13] After playing more minutes than any other Wellington Phoenix player that season, Cacace won the club's Young Player of the Year award ahead of fellow starterSarpreet Singh.[14]
The following season, Cacace established himself as one of Wellington's most important players, with captainSteven Taylor calling him "the best left-back in the league without a shadow of a doubt".[15] On 8 March 2020, Cacace played his 50th game for Wellington Phoenix against Central Coast Mariners, the youngest player in the club's history to do so.[16]
After a stellar season with theWellington Phoenix,[17] Cacace signed a three-year contract withSint-Truiden for a suspected transfer fee of around €1.2 million.[18]
On 31 January 2022, Cacace joinedItalianSerie A clubEmpoli on loan, with a conditional obligation to buy.[19] The conditions were fulfilled and Empoli purchased the rights on 17 June 2022.[20] Across four seasons, Cacace made 76 Serie A appearances and scored 2 goals, and overall including other competitions made 83 appearances.
On 18 July 2025, it was announced Cacace joined newly-promotedEFL Championship clubWrexham for an undisclosed fee.[21] On 9 January 2026, Cacace scored his first goal for Wrexham in a 3–3 draw in theFA Cup againstPremier League sideNottingham Forest. Wrexham would go on to win 4–3 in apenalty shootout.[22]
Cacace was part of theNew Zealand U17 team that won the2017 OFC U-17 Championship, where he scored one goal. This meant that the team qualified for the2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India. Cacace then played at the FIFA U-17 World Cup,[23] making his World Cup debut in the 1–1 draw withTurkey U17,[24] before starting again in a 4–2 loss toParaguay U17[25] and a 3–1 loss toMali U17.[26]
Cacace scored the opening goal at the2020 Summer Olympics inNew Zealand's 3–2 loss toHonduras.[27]
Cacace was selected to join theNew Zealand national team squad in the2018 Intercontinental Cup held in India.[28] He made his All Whites debut in Mumbai on 5 June 2018 againstChinese Taipei, in a 1–0 victory.[29]
On 25 June 2021, Cacace was called up to the New Zealand squad for the delayed2020 Summer Olympics.[30]
Cacace scored againstTahiti in a 1–0 win in the semi-finals of the2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[31]
In the2024 OFC Nations Cup, Cacace was named as captain where he guided New Zealand to lift the trophy on 30 June 2024.
Cacace was born inWellington to an Italian father and a New Zealand mother of Italian descent. His father Antonio arrived in the country in 1992 fromMassa Lubrense, a small commune inNaples, and operatesLa Bella Italia, an Italian restaurant located inPetone.[32][33] He attendedSt Patrick's College.[34]
Cacace supports his father's hometown team,Napoli.[35]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Wellington Phoenix Reserves | 2016–17 | Premiership | 8 | 0 | — | — | — | 8 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | 13 | 0 | — | — | — | 13 | 0 | |||||
| 2018–19 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | ||
| Wellington Phoenix | 2017–18 | A-League | 7 | 0 | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 1[c] | 0 | 27 | 1 | |||
| 2019–20 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 0 | — | 1[c] | 0 | 26 | 3 | |||
| Total | 56 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 60 | 4 | ||
| Sint-Truiden | 2020–21 | First Division A | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 28 | 0 | ||
| 2021–22 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 50 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 0 | ||
| Empoli (loan) | 2021–22 | Serie A | 10 | 0 | — | — | — | 10 | 0 | |||
| Empoli | 2022–23 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | |||
| 2023–24 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 32 | 0 | ||||
| 2024–25 | 33 | 2 | 6 | 0 | — | — | 39 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 76 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 2 | ||
| Wrexham | 2025–26 | Championship | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| Career total | 205 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 215 | 7 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 2018 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 32 | 1 | |
| No. | Cap | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 March 2022 | Al-Arabi Stadium,Doha, Qatar |  Tahiti | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification |
New Zealand
New Zealand U17
Individual
New Zealand squads | |||||||
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