Daniele Paponi (born 16 April 1988) is an Italian footballer who plays as a forward for Serie D club Castelfidardo.

In the summer 2004, following the folding of his club, Paponi became a free agent; he then accepted an offer from Parma and joined the ducali youth team.

His first Serie A goal came in an away league match played against Messina on 20 December 2006, and ended in a 1–1 draw: Paponi's equaliser goal, a reversed bicycle kick immediately dubbed as "scorpion kick", was saluted among the finest scored in the league season.

Nevertheless, Paponi struggled to find space in the first team in the following 2007–08 season, and in January 2008 he accepted a loan move to Serie B's Cesena, where he scored two goals in 21 games.

For the 2008–09 season he returned to Parma, then in Serie B, playing seven games and scoring twice, but in January 2009 he was loaned out again, this time to Rimini as part of the deal that brought then-Serie B topscorer Daniele Vantaggiato to join the gialloblu.

[12] On 20 August 2015 Paponi was signed by U.S. Latina Calcio for free,[13] with Marco Crimi moved to opposite direction.