- Marco Materazzi
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Marco Materazzi 
Personal information Full name Marco Materazzi Date of birth 19 August 1973 Place of birth Lecce, Italy Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Playing position Centre back Youth career 1990–1991 Messino Peloro 1991–1993 Tori de Quinto Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1993–1994 Marsala 25 (4) 1994–1995 Trapani 13 (2) 1995–1998 Perugia 47 (7) 1996-1997 → Carpi (loan) 18 (7) 1998–1999 Everton 25 (2) 1999–2001 Perugia 51 (15) 2001–2011 Internazionale 209 (18) National team‡ 2001–2008 Italy 41 (2) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 May 2011.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 June 2008Marco Materazzi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko mateˈrattsi]; born 19 August 1973), is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender, and is currently a free agent.
At the beginning of his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie B and Serie C, and with Premier League side Everton. He spent two periods with Perugia (1995–98 and 1999–2001) and signed for Internazionale, in 2001 for €10 million. He is renowned as a prolific goal-scorer for a defender, breaking the Serie A record for most goals scored by a defender in a season in the 2000–01 season. With Inter he has won a number of major honours including five Serie A titles, one Champions League, three Coppa Italia, and the Supercoppa Italiana three times. He is known for his very aggressive style of play which has led him to having more than 60 yellow cards and 25 red cards.
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Early life
Marco Materazzi was born in Lecce. His father Giuseppe played for U.S. Lecce. Giuseppe was also a former football coach and manager of teams such as Pisa, Lazio, Sporting CP and Tianjin Teda.
Club career
He began his footballing career with the Messina Peloro youth team from 1990 to 1991. He spent his early career in the lower divisions of Italian football, with amateur side Tor di Quinto (1991–92), Serie C2 team Marsala (1993–94), and Serie C1 Trapani (1994–95), where he narrowly missed a historic promotion to Serie B after losing a promotion playoff to Gualdo.
Serie B squad Perugia Calcio signed Materazzi for the first time in 1995, but spent a part of the 1996–97 season in Serie C with Carpi, before coming back to Perugia. He then spent 1998–99 with Everton, where he was sent off four times in just 27 games, and scored twice against Middlesbrough in the league[1] and Huddersfield Town in the League Cup.[2] He then returned to Perugia, and scored 12 goals in the 2000–01 season, breaking Daniel Passarella's Serie A record of most goals by a defender in one season.[citation needed] Materazzi was then signed by Internazionale for €10 million.[citation needed] He finished the 2006–07 season as the top scoring defender of Serie A with 10 goals.[citation needed] Materazzi made his 150th appearance for Inter in a 2–0 win over Atalanta in April 2008.[citation needed] Materazzi made his first appearance of the 2010-11 season in the Milan derby on 14 November 2010.
In June 2011, Materazzi has his Inter contract rescinded after feeling his time at Inter was over and failing to play first team football. Materazzi has since been heavily linked to newly promoted Premier League club Queens Park Rangers. Materazzi has also been linked with a move to the MLS. Materazzi has expressed his desire to return to Inter after retirement as a coaching director.
Materazzi is known amongst fans and fellow players as The Matrix and as "The Butcher", owing to his reportedly unpredictable personality and overly aggressive play.[1]
International career
Materazzi in 2009 during a match with Inter
Materazzi made his debut for Italy national team on 25 April 2001, in a 1-0 friendly match victory against South Africa. He made two appearances in the qualifying campaign against Georgia and Hungary. In the final tournament of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Materazzi was used as a reserve player to back up Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro. He made only one appearance by coming on as a substitute for Nesta in the 2-1 loss to Croatia in the group stage. Two years later at UEFA Euro 2004, Materazzi was on the bench for Italy's first two games but started in the final group game against Bulgaria in place of the suspended Fabio Cannavaro. After the tournament, Materazzi's performance was widely criticized as he conceded a penalty by bringing down Martin Petrov.
In his third major tournament, Materazzi started the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a reserve player, but after Alessandro Nesta suffered an injury in the group match against Czech Republic, Materazzi came on as his replacement and made an impact by scoring a goal. He received a red card in the round of 16 match against Australia and was suspended for the quarter-final against Ukraine. In the final against France, Materazzi fouled Florent Malouda to concede a penalty which Zinedine Zidane scored. He made another impact by scoring a goal to level the score. After the match went to extra-time and penalties, Materazzi and Zidane were involved in a confrontation in which Zidane headbutted Materazzi and ended in Zidane receiving a red card. Materazzi scored Italy's second penalty as they defeated France 5-3 to claim their fourth FIFA World Cup. After the final, the confrontation resulted in a major controversy as Zidane accused Materazzi of insulting his sister and mother. Additionally, Materazzi claimed that after he had grabbed Zidane's jersey, Zidane sarcastically said to him "If you want my shirt, I will give to you afterwards" Materazzi then revealed that he replied, "preferisco quella puttana di tua sorella" (I prefer the whore that is your sister), which resulted in the headbutt.[3][4] Three British tabloid newspapers, The Daily Star, The Daily Mail and The Sun, alleged that Materazzi had made comments of a racist nature to Zidane, alleging that Matterazzi called Zidane "the son of a terrorist whore." Materazzi took legal action against all three newspapers and the allegations were later withdrawn, with each paying him substantial damages.[5][6] FIFA later issued a CHF 5,000 fine and a two-match ban against Materazzi.
Under Roberto Donadoni, Materazzi appeared consistently during the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign and became a starter after Alessandro Nesta's retirement. In the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament, he started in the 3–0 loss to the Netherlands but was substituted in the 54th minute in what would later prove to be his final appearance for Italy.
International goals
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 22 June 2006 Hamburg, Germany 
Czech Republic2–0 Win 2006 FIFA World Cup 2 9 July 2006 Berlin, Germany 
France1–1 (AET), 5–3 (PSO) Win 2006 FIFA World Cup Final Honours
Materazzi's shirt
Materazzi during a training in 2009- Internazionale
Major:
- Serie A: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
- Coppa Italia: 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011
- Supercoppa Italiana: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010
- UEFA Champions League: 2010
Minor:
- Trofeo Tim: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010
- Birra Moretti Cup: 2001, 2002, 2007
- Pirelli Cup: 2001 , 2002 , 2003 ,2007 , 2008 , 2009 , 2010
Personal
References
- ^ Bramwell, Neil (17 February 1999). "Barmby sparks Everton deluge". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-barmby-sparks-everton-deluge-1071633.html. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
- ^ Shaw, Phil (23 September 1998). "Dacourt drives Everton through". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-dacourt-drives-everton-through-1200301.html. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
- ^ "Materazzi reveals details of Zidane World Cup slur". Reuters. 2006-09-05. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=378084&cc=5901. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ^ "And Materazzi's exact words to Zidane were...". The Guardian (London). 2007-08-18. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2151641,00.html. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
- ^ Tryhorn, Chris (2008-04-07). Zidane headbutt victim wins Star apology. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2009-02-09.
- ^ Materazzi wins British libel damages over Sun's claims about Zidane headbutt. The Guardian (2009-02-06). Retrieved on 2009-02-09.
External links
- Official Website
- Official Inter profile
- Profile and stats from Football Database
Categories:- Italian footballers
- Italy international footballers
- Perugia Calcio players
- Everton F.C. players
- Premier League players
- F.C. Internazionale Milano players
- 2002 FIFA World Cup players
- UEFA Euro 2004 players
- 2006 FIFA World Cup players
- UEFA Euro 2008 players
- Association football central defenders
- Serie A footballers
- Serie B footballers
- FIFA World Cup-winning players
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom
- Italian expatriate footballers
- People from Lecce (city)
- 1973 births
- Living people
- Violence in sports
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