Marco Materazzi

Marco Materazzi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko mateˈrattsi]; born 19 August 1973) is an Italian former professional football player and manager. A controversial and provocative figure in football, he was known for his very physical and aggressive style of defending, which saw him collect numerous cards throughout his career.

Early in his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie D, Serie C, and Serie B, and with Everton in the Premier League. He spent two periods with Perugia and signed for Inter Milan in 2001 for €10 million. At club level, he won a number of major honors with Inter, including five Serie A league titles in a row from 2006 to 2010, one UEFA Champions League, one FIFA Club World Cup, four Coppa Italia titles, and the Supercoppa Italiana four times. Having played around 270 games for Inter, he announced his retirement from playing shortly after leaving the club in 2011. Materazzi came out of retirement in 2014 when he was appointed player-manager of Chennaiyin in the Indian Super League.

Materazzi earned 41 caps for Italy from his debut in 2001 until 2008, playing in two FIFA World Cups and two UEFA European Championships. He was one of the key players in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final against France; he gave away an early penalty that led to France's first goal, scored Italy's equalising goal twelve minutes later and, in extra time, 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.