Marco Materazzi

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Marco Materazzi
Personal information
Full name	Marco Materazzi
Date of birth	August 19, 1973 (age 33)
Place of birth	Lecce, Italy
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Nickname	Matrix
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	F.C. Internazionale Milano
Youth clubs
1990-91 1991-93	F.C. Messina Peloro Tor di Quinto
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993-94 1994-95 1995-98 1996 1998-99 1999-01 2001-	S.C. Marsala 1912 A.S. Trapani A.C. Perugia →Carpi F.C. 1909 (on loan) Everton F.C. A.C. Perugia F.C. Internazionale Milano	25 (4) 13 (2) 47 (7) 18 (7) 27 (1) 51 (15) 125 (12)
National team2
2001-	Italy	35 (2)[1]
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14 march 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Marco Materazzi, Cavaliere (born August 19, 1973 in Lecce) is an Italian football defender, who currently plays for Serie A club F.C. Internazionale Milano, better known as Inter Milan. He was a part of the Italian team that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Materazzi is tall and uses his physique to play as a tough and hard working defender.^[1] Known mostly for his aggressive playing style, Marco Materazzi was a late bloomer. He is known for scoring a lot of goals for a defender. His nickname amongst his team mates, is 'The Matrix', due to his 'complicated' mind.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Club

Materazzi was born in Lecce because his father Giuseppe was playing for local side US Lecce. He moved his first football steps playing for Messina youth team from 1990-1991. He then spent his early career in the lower divisions of Italian football, with amateur side Tor di Quinto (1991-92), Serie C2 team S.C. Marsala 1912 (1993-94), and Serie C1's A.S. Trapani (1994-95), where he narrowly missed a historical promotion to Serie B for his side, losing promotion playoffs to S.S. Gualdo, then coached by Walter Novellino. A.C. Perugia, then in Serie B and coached by Novellino, signed Materazzi for the first time in 1995, but spent a part of the 1996-97 season at Serie C's Carpi F.C. 1909, before coming back to Perugia.

Materazzi then spent 1998-99 with Everton F.C. (where he was sent off three times in just 27 games), before another stint with Perugia, now in the Serie A. He scored 12 goals in the 2000-01 season, breaking Daniel Passarella's Serie A record of most goals by a defender in one season. He was then signed by Inter for 10 million euros.

During those times the media formed for him a fame of a bully, dirty player of some sorts, but despite that the Inter fans adore him because of his gladiatorial spirit, and his impressive work rate.

He got some confrontations, as the infamous one with Cirillo in the underground passage to the dressing rooms where the two of them had a scuffle where Materazzi slightly bruised Cirillo's eye arcade.

At Perugia, he was known for his accurate left-footed free kicks, but with so many good free kick takers at Inter, he rarely gets a chance to take one. Materazzi also excels in long passes to forwards. Materazzi is a significant part of the Inter defence and a key figure for them on the pitch. With Inter, he has won Coppa Italia twice; in 2005 and 2006. He has recently been provided with the opportunity to captain the side in occasion of Javier Zanetti's injury.

Today he is regarded as one of most aggressive central defenders in the world. He signed a contract extension in summer 2006, extending the relation with club from 2009 to 2010.

[edit] International

His debut for the Italian national side came in 2001 as he played against South Africa. Since then Materazzi has competed in three major tournaments for Italy; playing at the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, and 2006 World Cup.

Materazzi has captained Italian national side on two occasions; in a friendly against Finland in November 2004 and another friendly against Iceland in March 2005.

[edit] 2006 World Cup

Materazzi was a member of the Italian national team that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Materazzi wasn't intended as the first team player, but the injury of Alessandro Nesta allowed him to play a more important role.

He came as a substitute for Nesta in Italy's game against the Czech Republic and scored the first goal of the game with a towering header after a corner kick. He dedicated the goal to midfielder Daniele De Rossi, who had been sent off in the previous match for an elbow, described by Materazzi as a mistake.^[2] In the following match, the Round of 16, against Australia, he received a controversial straight red card and was suspended for the next match.

Screenshot of Zidane hitting Materazzi.

He also featured prominently in Italy's World Cup Final game against France, first causing the penalty that put France ahead, then scoring a headed equalizer from a Pirlo corner kick. Later in the game he was involved in an off-the-ball incident; he was headbutted in the chest by Zinedine Zidane. Zidane confirmed that Materazzi's insults were not at race or religion, but were targeted at his sister and mother. The official FIFA investigation fined Materazzi CHF 5,000 ($4,117) and suspended him for two matches, while Zidane was fined CHF 7,500 ($6,176) and suspended for three matches.^[3] On September 5 Materazzi admitted that he indeed insulted Zidane's sister. In an interview with Materazzi, he revealed the comment he made to Zidane. "I replied to Zidane that I would prefer his sister, that is true. I brought up his sister and that wasn't a nice thing, that is true". Furthermore, Materazzi claimed that he did not even know Zidane had a sister.^[4] Some time later, Materazzi made a public statement of inviting Zidane to his home for a dinner between peers, as an effort to bury the hatchet. He jocularly added that his only condition was that Zidane make good on his offer of the jersey.

Materazzi went on to score Italy's second penalty in the shoot-out, which Italy won 5-3, to win the FIFA World Cup. By scoring two goals for Italy, Materazzi became top team goalscorer alongside with Luca Toni. Several months after the World Cup final Materazzi showed up in a Nike commercial based on what happened between him and Zidane.^[5]

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	22 June 2006	Hamburg, Germany	Czech Republic	2-0	Win	2006 FIFA World Cup
2.	9 July 2006	Berlin, Germany	France	1-1(AET), 5-3(PSO)	Win	2006 FIFA World Cup
og.	15 November 2006	Bergamo, Italy	Turkey	1-1	Draw	friendly

[edit] Trivia

• Materazzi has a large tattoo on his left forearm with the word "LION" and "XIX VIII MCMLXXIII" (his date of birth in Roman numerals), as well as a pair of wings outlined on his back. He also has the World Cup trophy inked onto his left thigh.
• His father is Giuseppe Materazzi, who was a former football coach and managed Pisa Calcio, S.S. Lazio, A.S. Bari, Calcio Padova, Brescia Calcio, Piacenza Calcio, Sporting Clube de Portugal and Tianjin Teda.
• Materazzi is married to Daniela and they have 3 children: 2 boys, Gianmarco and Davide, and a girl, Anna.
• In the 2005-06 season, he was involved in a very comical own goal that allowed Empoli to avoid relegation. [1]
• Materazzi is a fan of S.S. Lazio.^{[citation needed]}
• In the Serie A season 2006-2007, he was once again headbutted, this time on the chin by Gennaro Del Vecchio[2] of Sampdoria.
• In the newest installed of the FIFA game, FIFA 07, he is not included in the game

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Official Inter Milan profile
• FootballDatabase.com provides Materazzi's profile and stats
• Information on the incident between Materazzi and Zidane

	Italy squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Buffon | 2 Panucci | 3 Maldini | 4 Coco | 5 Cannavaro | 6 Zanetti | 7 Del Piero | 8 Gattuso | 9 Inzaghi | 10 Totti | 11 Doni | 12 Abbiati | 13 Nesta | 14 Di Biagio | 15 Iuliano | 16 Di Livio | 17 Tommasi | 18 Delvecchio | 19 Zambrotta | 20 Montella | 21 Vieri | 22 Toldo | 23 Materazzi | Coach: Trapattoni

	Italy squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Champions (4th Title)
1 Buffon | 2 Zaccardo | 3 Grosso | 4 De Rossi | 5 Cannavaro | 6 Barzagli | 7 Del Piero | 8 Gattuso | 9 Toni | 10 Totti | 11 Gilardino | 12 Peruzzi | 13 Nesta | 14 Amelia | 15 Iaquinta | 16 Camoranesi | 17 Barone | 18 Inzaghi | 19 Zambrotta | 20 Perrotta | 21 Pirlo | 22 Oddo | 23 Materazzi | Coach: Lippi