Grasshopper Club Zürich De Napoli has said he has been playing football from the age of six. He played youth football for FC Baar until 1991, when he joined Grasshoppers. Patrick began his senior career with
Grasshopper Club Zürich in the
Swiss Super League in the
1991–92 season, making his debut in a 2–1 win over
FC Servette on 1 March 1992 at the age of sixteen. Grasshoppers finished in third place in the league that season. In the
1992–93 season, de Napoli only made two league appearances as Grasshoppers finished ninth in the regular season and were sucked into a promotion-relegation group. The club also reached the final of the Swiss Cup, but were beaten 4–1 by
FC Lugano. 1993–94 proved to be more successful for both de Napoli and Grasshoppers as the club finished second in the
Swiss Super League, just one point behind winners
Servette FC, with de Napoli making seven league appearances. Grasshoppers again reached the final of the Swiss Cup and this time defeated
FC Schaffhausen 4–0. De Napoli improved again in 1994–1995, making thirteen appearances and scoring one goal, the first of his senior career. Grasshoppers came close to doing a league and cup double, winning the
Swiss Super League and reaching the cup final for the third consecutive tournament. However, they were beaten 4–2 by
FC Sion. 1995–96 saw Patrick make nineteen appearances in his last season with
Grasshopper Club, scoring three times. Grasshoppers again won the league title but were eliminated in the early rounds of the cup. Patrick played in
UEFA Champions League games against
Ferencvárosi TC,
Real Madrid (twice) and
AFC Ajax, coming on as a substitute in all four matches. Midway through the 1995–96 season, de Napoli left Grasshoppers to join
FC Winterthur of the
Nationalliga B, the Swiss second division. Ironically, his last season with the club proved to be the one in which he made the most appearances and scored the most goals in his five-year spell with Grasshoppers.
FC Winterthur and FC Aarau Joining
FC Winterthur midway through the season, de Napoli found himself in a relegation group in the bottom half of
Nationalliga B. De Napoli helped steer his new club to safety, as they topped the relegation group with Patrick scoring five times in thirteen games and Winterthur losing just two of their fourteen matches. Despite becoming an important part of Winterthur's team in such a short period of time, de Napoli moved on again at the end of the 1995–96 season, this time joining
FC Aarau, who had just finished fourth in the
Nationalliga A, thereby qualifying for the
1996-97 UEFA Cup. Aarau finished fifth in the
1996–97 Nationalliga A, with de Napoli missing just one of their thirty-six games and weighing in with thirteen goals, a career best. This goal haul included eight in the first twenty-two games, making him the league's joint-seventh top-scorer for the Qualifying Phase and indeed the seventh top-scorer of the overall season. He also featured for Aarau in the
UEFA Cup, playing in both legs of the 7–0
aggregate loss to
Brøndby IF of
Denmark in September 1996. Aarau improved on their league position in
1997–98, finishing fourth, but de Napoli had a less successful season. He still managed seven goals in thirty-three games, but could not match the impressive strike rate of the previous campaign. 1997–98 would be de Napoli's last season for
FC Aarau, as he departed the club to join
FC Zürich, who had finished sixth in Nationalliga A in 1997–98.
FC Zürich, return to Grasshoppers and Karlsruher SC De Napoli's choice to move to
FC Zürich ahead of the
1998–99 Nationalliga A proved to be successful. Zürich finished in fourth place while Aarau were sucked into a relegation battle. The striker also experienced the best strike rate of his career, scoring thirteen times in just twenty-eight games. As a result, he was the league's joint-second top-scorer, tied with Zürich teammate
Shaun Bartlett. Despite this success, Patrick left the club at the end of the season to rejoin
Grasshopper Club Zürich. In what was becoming a familiar pattern in de Napoli's career, he only stayed at Grasshoppers for a year before moving on again. 1999–2000 saw Grasshoppers finish fourth with de Napoli scoring once in eleven games. He left the club midway through the season to join the first foreign club of his career,
German 1999–2000 2. Fußball-Bundesliga strugglers
Karlsruher SC, who were then managed by future
Germany national team boss
Joachim Löw. The forward made his debut for
Karlsruher SC in a 0–0 draw with
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on 9 February 2000. De Napoli
fractured his thumb soon after joining the club, and missed matches in March 2000. He played twelve of Karlsruher SC's thirty-four league games, scoring once, in a 3–1 loss to
Chemnitzer FC on 9 April 2000. However, this wasn't enough to save Karlsruher SC who were relegated at the end of the season, having won just once in de Napoli's twelve appearances. Avoiding dropping down to the German third division, de Napoli returned to Switzerland to rejoin
FC Aarau.
FC Aarau and Young Boys ,
Young Boys' new stadium's first ever match, against
Olympique Marseille De Napoli had enjoyed one of the best years of his career with Aarau in 1996–97, and he again experienced a return to form after rejoining the
Aargau-based club. He scored six times in twenty-four appearances in the
2000–01 Nationalliga A as Aarau finished ninth in the regular season and second in the relegation/promotion play-offs. He again established himself as a first-team regular in 2001–02, playing thirty-four of Aarau's thirty-six games. However, he only managed four goals and Aarau were eventually relegated by just one goal, although they were later re-promoted due to
FC Lausanne not obtaining a license. The
2002–03 Nationalliga A went better for both player and club as
FC Aarau preserved their top-flight status and de Napoli netted thirteen times in thirty-two games. De Napoli's goal tally included vital strikes that ultimately kept them up, scoring in a 1–1 draw with
BSC Young Boys, a 2–1 away win over
FC Zürich and in a 2–1 victory against
FC Lugano. He also scored a late winner against
SR Delémont and a brace against
FC Vaduz in the relegation/promotion group. Patrick scored eight times in thirty games in the
2003–04 Swiss Super League as Aarau scraped to safety once more. His goals included a brace against Zürich in a 3–3 draw on 30 August 2003 and another two goals in a 2–2 draw with
FC Basel on October 26. He left Aarau at the end of the season to join
BSC Young Boys, who had just finished second in the
Swiss Super League. Patrick's first season with Young Boys saw him score just once in nineteen games. He made his debut for the club in a 6–1 demolition of
FC Schaffhausen in the second game of the season on 23 July 2004, coming on as a second-half substitute. De Napoli scored his first goal for Young Boys and his only goal of 2004–05 in the 4–2 home loss to
FC Thun on 14 April 2005. Young Boys finished fourth in the league. De Napoli also competed in the
UEFA Champions League for the first time since his Grasshoppers days, making a substitute appearance in the 3–0 second leg defeat to
FK Crvena Zvezda on 4 August 2004 which eliminated Young Boys from the competition. Ahead of the
2005–06 Swiss Super League Young Boys competed in the
UEFA Intertoto Cup, with de Napoli playing in their wins over
Sporting Lokeren and the loss to
Olympique Marseille in July 2005. However, the forward played just once for Young Boys in the league in 2005–06, coming on as a substitute in a 3–0 win over
FC Yverdon-Sports on 20 July 2005. He then left for
FC Luzern partway through the campaign in search of first-team football.
2005–2007: Luzern, Carl Zeiss Jena and Chemnitzer FC De Napoli played for
FC Luzern in the second half of the
2005–06 Swiss Super League campaign, scoring five times in fifteen games and helping Luzern to promotion from the
Swiss Challenge League. He scored his first goal for Luzern in a 1–1 draw at
FC Chiasso on October 14, 2005. He also scored against
YF Juventus,
FC Winterthur,
FC Sion and
FC Baulmes as Luzern cruised to the league title. De Napoli scored a
penalty against
FC Concordia Basel in a 4–2 penalty shootout win in the second round of the
Swiss Cup. At the end of the 2005–06 season de Napoli moved to the eighth different club and the second German club of his career,
FC Carl Zeiss Jena. He only stayed at Carl Zeiss Jena for part of the 2006–07 season as they narrowly avoided relegation. De Napoli scored his first goal for Carl Zeiss Jena in a 1–1 draw with
SpVgg Greuther Fürth on 8 November 2006. This proved to be his only goal in thirteen games before moving on loan to
Chemnitzer FC. He signed a four-month loan contract, from 1 February 2007 to 30 June, but expressed frustration at being farmed out at a time when the club as a whole were struggling at the foot of the table, and claimed "I'm probably just a scapegoat". However, Carl Zeiss Jena's management had a more positive view of the loan, with sporting director
Lutz Lindemann saying "Chemnitz hope for promotion to the
Regionalliga. Patrick can prove himself there and offer some help". At Chemnitzer he netted three goals in fourteen games as the club competed in the
NOFV-Oberliga, Germany's fifth division. He returned to Carl Zeiss Jena, playing three games for the club's reserve team, Carl Zeiss Jena II. His contract with Carl Zeiss Jena, intended to last until the summer of 2008, was terminated with immediate effect by mutual consent on 29 August 2007. Patrick moved to
Zug 94 of the Swiss third division ahead of the 2007–08 season.
2007–present Making his debut in a 1–0 loss to
FC Biel-Bienne on 29 September 2007, De Napoli made eighteen appearances for Zug 94 in 2007–08, scoring nine goals for an impressive strike rate of a goal every other game. These goals included a run of five goals in four consecutive games, with his first goal for Zug coming in a 4–2 win over
FC Luzern U21 on 7 October 2007. He followed this record up with another twenty-two appearances in 2008–09, scoring fourteen times. De Napoli netted nine times in his first eight games, scoring twice against both
FC Grenchen and
FC Basel U-21. He played his last game for Zug 94 in a 5–0 loss to
SR Delémont on 26 April 2009. Patrick rejoined hometown club FC Baar, where he had spent his youth career, in 2009. He adopted the role of player-coach of the team, making appearances in a 2–0 win over Schattdorf FC on 21 August 2010, and on 16 April 2011 in the 2–0 win over FC Hochdorf, setting up the first goal with a
free-kick. He also scored twice in a 3–2
IFV Cup win over FC Muotathal on 5 September 2010, and was described as having "changed the game" and "made the difference". However, de Napoli was
sent off for
dissent in Baar's 2–1 home defeat to FC Perlen–Buchrain on 30 April 2011. Soon after this, in early June 2011, he resigned as Baar coach to join SC Menzingen of the 3. Liga. De Napoli was replaced by Daniel Stadler. De Napoli scored in an early appearance for Menzingen, in a 1–1 draw with
SC Cham II on 21 August 2011. He also played in a 4–3 to FC Muotathal on 24 September and scored in Menzingen's 4–0 rout over FC Rotkreuz on 22 October. De Napoli scored twice in the space of three minutes in a 3–2 win over Kussnacht FC on 29 October 2011. The forward played his first game after the winter break in a 2–0 win over
SC Goldau II on 31 March 2012. De Napoli then started against Menzingen's 4–1 IFV Cup win over FC Gunzwil on 12 April 2012, being substituted late on in the game. De Napoli retired from football in June 2012, at the end of the 2011–12 season.
Club career statistics ==International career==