Materazzi earned 41 caps for Italy from his debut in 2001 until 2008, playing in two World Cups and two European Championships. He was one of the key players in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final against France, as he scored Italy's goal and later, in extra time, he received a headbutt from Zinedine Zidane, who was punished with a red card. Italy then went on to win the World Cup in a penalty shoot-out, during which Materazzi scored again.
A controversial and provocative figure in football, he was known for his very physical and aggressive style of play as a defender, as well as his tight marking and strong, harsh tackling, which led him to receive more than 60 yellow cards and 25 red cards throughout his playing career. Due to his temper, and his commitment to rash, heavy challenges, he has been involved in several altercations with other players during matches,[2] drawing comparisons with retired defender Pasquale Bruno.[3]The Times placed Materazzi at number 45 in their list of the 50 hardest football players in history.[4] During the 2006–07 season, Materazzi was voted the Serie A Defender of the Year.
Early life
Marco Materazzi was born in Lecce, where his father, Giuseppe, a professional footballer, was playing 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
Messina Peloro
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.
Perugia
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.
He then returned to Perugia in 1999 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.[7]
Internazionale
Materazzi playing for Inter in 2009
Materazzi was then signed by Internazionale for €10 million.[8] He finished the 2006–07 season as the top scoring defender of Serie A with 10 goals,[9] including a double away to Siena on 23 April which won the club's 15th league title with five games remaining.[10] Materazzi was an injury-time substitute for Inter in the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, replacing Diego Milito who scored both of their goals in the 2–0 victory in Madrid.[11]
Materazzi declared his retirement from international football in summer 2011.[12] and was appointed in the role of ambassador to Inter.
Chennaiyin FC
On 22 September 2014, Materazzi was signed as the player-manager of Chennaiyin FC in the inaugural season of the Indian Super League.[13] Materazzi signed a two-season contract with Chennaiyin for $1 million (USD) every season.[14][15] Materazzi did not choose himself to play in their opening match, a 2–1 victory at FC Goa on 15 October courtesy of a free kick from marquee player and former Brazil international Elano.[16] Six days later in his first home game, Chennaiyin defeated the Kerala Blasters 2–1, but four days after that he lost for the first time, 1–4 to the Delhi Dynamos. In the club's fourth match of the season, he selected himself to play for the first time, starting in a 5–1 win over Mumbai City FC.[17] On 28 November, he brought his former international defensive partner Alessandro Nesta out of retirement to play for Chennaiyin until the end of the season.[18] Chennaiyin finished the 14-game regular season in first place in the league, with Materazzi having made 6 appearances. In the end-of-season play-offs, the team were eliminated in extra time in the semi-finals by the Kerala Blasters.
At the end of the 2015 season, in which Materazzi lead Chennaiyin to the Indian Super League championship, his contract ended.[19]
International career
Materazzi in 2006, during the FIFA World Cup in Germany
Materazzi made his debut for the 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 but soon in the 90th minute Materazzi played a floating ball over the top from just over half way to Inzaghi but everyone missed the ball and rolled in the back of the net but the goal was disallowed after referee Graham Poll claimed that Inzaghi grabbed an opponent's shirt.[20] Materazzi was later criticised for his defending on both of Croatia's goals during the match.[21]
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, as Italy came from behind to win 2–1; in the first half, Materazzi was judged to have allegedly fouled Dimitar Berbatov in the area, conceding a penalty, which Martin Petrov subsequently converted. Despite the win, Italy were eliminated in the first round on direct encounters, following a three-way five point tie with Denmark and Sweden.[22]
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 the Czech Republic, Materazzi came on as his replacement and made an impact by scoring a goal, and was named Man of the Match.[23] He received a red card in the round of 16 match against Australia for a foul on Mark Bresciano, which ended in a 1–0 win to the Italians, and was suspended for the quarter-final against Ukraine, which Italy won 3–0.[24] In the final against France, Materazzi fouled Florent Malouda to concede a dubious penalty, which Zinedine Zidane subsequently scored. He made another impact by scoring a goal to level the score, a header from a right sided corner by Andrea Pirlo. After the match went to extra-time, Materazzi and Zidane were involved in a confrontation in the 110th minute, where Materazzi verbally insulted Zinedine Zidane alongside tugging his shirt while Zidane attempted to walk away, which ended with Zidane head-butting Materazzi and receiving a red card. The game then continued to penalties. Materazzi scored Italy's second penalty as they defeated France 5–3 to claim their fourth FIFA World Cup.[25] 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 la puttana di tua sorella[26]" (I would prefer your whore of a sister[26]), which resulted in the head-butt.[27][28] Three British tabloid newspapers, the Daily Star, the Daily Mail and The Sun, alleged that Materazzi had called Zidane "the son of a terrorist whore." Materazzi took legal action against all three newspapers and the allegations were later withdrawn.[29][30] FIFA later issued a CHF 5,000 fine and a two-match ban against Materazzi. Alongside striker Luca Toni, Materazzi was Italy's top scorer throughout the tournament with two goals; he also won 14 challenges throughout the competition.[31]
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, as he was replaced later in the tournament by Giorgio Chiellini.[32]
Playing style
An aggressive, physical, and hard-tackling centre-back, who was also known for his tight marking of opponents,[2] Materazzi was considered to be one of the best defenders of his generation, and was highly regarded by two of the world's most respected coaches, Marcello Lippi and José Mourinho, later becoming close friends with both managers.[33] Materazzi was lauded by his managers in particular for being a goal threat as a defender, due to his outstanding aerial ability, which made him dangerous during set pieces.[7] His prolific goalscoring allowed him to capture the record for most goals in a Serie A season by a defender, which was broken during the 2000–01 season.[7] He was also an accurate set piece and penalty kick taker, with a powerful shot from distance.[7] In addition to these attributes, he had reliable technique and distribution skills, and was known for frequently playing long balls to the strikers.[2] During his time with Internazionale, he developed the nickname Matrix.[34]
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Czech Republic
France
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