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Daniele Bonera (; born 31 May 1981) is an Italian retired professional footballer who played as a centre back.
Prior to joining Spanish Villarreal CF in 2015, with whom he retired in 2019, he had previously played for Italian clubs Brescia Calcio, Parma, and in particular AC Milan, where he won several titles, including the 2010–11 Serie A and the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League.
At international level, he represented the Italy national team on 16 occasions; he also won the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with the Italy national under-21 football team, as well as a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
After a ten-month injury lay-off, Bonera made a successful 45-minute comeback against Novara Calcio in the Coppa Italia on 13 January 2010. Because of Milan's great central defensive partnership of Alessandro Nesta and Thiago Silva, Bonera was deployed at his former position, right back. He slotted in well, playing much better in that position than when he first joined Milan. Because of this, Bonera became Milan's starting right back, but when Gianluca Zambrotta, Luca Antonini and Massimo Oddo all returned from injury, he lost his starting place in the position. When Nesta once again found himself on the treatment table, however, coach Leonardo chose Bonera to fill in for him in central defence.
On 23 May 2013, amid speculation of a move to Juventus FC, Bonera signed a new contract with Milan until 30 June 2015. During these two years, he mainly played as a backup player to first-choice centre-backs Philippe Mexès and Alex.
He was confirmed also following the appointment of Stefano Pioli as new head coach. In November 2020, after both Pioli and assistant Giacomo Murelli were diagnosed positive for COVID-19, Bonera acted as interim head coach for the club on a temporary basis.
After five years as an assistant, on 27 June 2024 Bonera was unveiled as the inaugural head coach of Milan Futuro, AC Milan's reserve team. He was dismissed from his role on 24 February 2025, leaving the team deep in the relegation zone.
Bonera has been capped 16 times for the Italian senior team between 2001 and 2008. After he made his senior debut under Giovanni Trapattoni on 5 September 2001, in a 1–0 win against Morocco, he made his non-Exhibition game debut under Marcello Lippi in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
He was called up to 2006 FIFA World Cup squad as one of the four emergency reserve players, but after Gianluca Zambrotta was confirmed to be fit, Bonera was excluded from the final 23-man squad and sent home.
After the 2006 World Cup, he was re-called for the first time under new manager Roberto Donadoni, ahead of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Scotland, a match scheduled for 28 March 2007. However, he had to withdraw due to injury. In October and November 2007, he was called up again. He played in a 2–0 friendly win against future 2010 FIFA World Cup hosts South Africa with an experimental Italy squad, and also came on as a substitute for Fabio Cannavaro in a 3–1 home win in a Euro 2008 qualifier against the Faroe Islands. He was not selected for Euro 2008.
After Marcello Lippi became Italy coach for the second time, Bonera was re-called in Lippi's first few matches, but was later left out of his squad due to injury. After the injury, Bonera was called up to the last friendly before the formal announcement of Italy's 2010 World Cup squad, against Cameroon. However, he failed to enter both the preliminary World Cup squad on 11 May and the training camp on 4–5 May.
On 13 October 2020, he tested positive for COVID-19.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Brescia Calcio | 1999–2000 | Serie B | 0 |
| 2000–01 | Serie A | 0 | |
| 2001–02 | 29||0||4||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||37|0 | ||
| Parma | 2002–03 | Serie A | 1 |
| 2003–04 | 24||0||0||0||5||0||colspan="2"|—||29|0 | ||
| 2004–05 | 35||0||1||0||10||0||colspan="2"|—||46|0 | ||
| 2005–06 | 23||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||23|0 | ||
| A.C. Milan | 2006–07 | Serie A | 0 |
| 2007–08 | 21||0||1||0||6||0||1||0||29|0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 18||0||0||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||22|0 | ||
| 2009–10 | 7||0||2||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||11|0 | ||
| 2010–11 | 16||0||1||0||3||0||colspan="2"|—||20|0 | ||
| 2011–12 | 20||0||3||0||6||0||0||0||29|0 | ||
| 2012–13 | 13||0||0||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||17|0 | ||
| 2013–14 | 16||0||0||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||20|0 | ||
| 2014–15 | 16||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||17|0 | ||
| Villarreal CF | 2015–16 | La Liga | 0 |
| 2016–17 | 6||0||1||0||3||0||colspan="2"|—||10|0 | ||
| 2017–18 | 15||0||1||0||5||0||colspan="2"|—||21|0 | ||
| 2018–19 | 5||0||3||0||3||0||colspan="2"|—||11|0 | ||
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Italy | 0 |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
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