Roberto Di Matteo

Overview

Roberto Di Matteo (Italian pronunciation: [roˈbɛrto di matˈtɛːo]; born 29 May 1970) is a professional football manager and former player. A midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau early in his career. After winning the league title with Aarau in 1992–93, he joined Serie A team Lazio where he played under managers Dino Zoff and Zdeněk Zeman. After three seasons at Lazio, he joined Chelsea in 1996 for a £4.9 million fee, a club record at the time. After six seasons there, he retired from professional football in February 2002 at the age of 31 following injury problems. Born in Switzerland to Italian parents, he chose to play for Italy, earning 34 caps and scoring two goals. He represented them at UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Di Matteo began his managerial career with Milton Keynes Dons, whom he took to the League One playoffs in 2008–09 before leaving to return West Bromwich Albion to the Premier League. As caretaker manager of Chelsea, he steered the club to double title success, winning both the FA Cup and the club's first UEFA Champions League title in 2012, but was dismissed later that year. He coached Schalke 04 for seven months in 2014–15 and Aston Villa for four months in 2016.