Playing career
[edit]Early years
Born in
Switzerland to Italian parents from
Paglieta, Chieti,
Abruzzo, Di Matteo began his career with Swiss club Schaffhausen, before joining Aarau in 1991. He won the
Swiss Nationalliga A with Aarau in 1993 and in the same season achieved Switzerland's Player of the Year award.
He signed for Lazio in the summer of 1993 on a free
[citation needed] transfer. Di Matteo became a regular in the Lazio side and made his debut for Italy during his three seasons with the Rome club. However, a falling out with coach
Zdeněk Zeman over a defensive error which resulted in a loss to
Internazionale, ended his career with the Lazio. As a result he was signed by
Ruud Gullit for English side Chelsea for a then club record fee of
£4.9 million.
[edit]Chelsea
Di Matteo scored the winner against
Middlesbrough on his home debut for Chelsea.
[4] His passing ability and accurate long-distance shooting saw him become one of the driving forces of Chelsea's resurgence in the late 1990s. He contributed nine goals in his first season, including long-range efforts against both
Tottenham Hotspur and
Wimbledon. He helped the club finish 6th place in the league, their highest placing since
1989–90, and reach the
1997 FA Cup Final at Wembley. Within 42 seconds of the kick-off of the final against
Middlesbrough, Di Matteo scored the opening goal from 30 yards and Chelsea won 2-0. Di Matteo's goal was the fastest in an FA Cup final until the record was broken by
Louis Saha for Everton in 2009.
The following season Di Matteo again proved his worth to the team, chipping in with ten goals and numerous assists, as Chelsea went on to claim the
Football League Cup and the
Cup Winners' Cup, their first European honour since 1971. In the League Cup final, again against Middlesbrough, Di Matteo scored the second goal in a 2–0 win. Di Matteo played in midfield next to
Gustavo Poyet,
Dennis Wise and
Dan Petrescu in the 1998-99 season as Chelsea finished third.
During the
1999–2000 season Di Matteo was sidelined by injury but returned late in the season to score a handful of crucial goals, including his third Cup-winning goal at Wembley, once again in the FA Cup. In a dour match, Di Matteo capitalised on an error by
Aston Villa goalkeeper
David James to score the winner in the 71st minute, handing Chelsea their fourth major trophy in three years. This lead Di Matteo to comment on the old Wembley Stadium saying "It's a shame they're tearing the old place down – it has been a very lucky ground for me".
Early into the
2000–01 season, Di Matteo sustained a triple leg fracture in a
UEFA Cup tie against
Swiss side
St. Gallen and did not play for the next eighteen months. He gave up on hopes of returning from this injury in February 2002 and retired at the age of 31. In "gratitude for the midfielder's contribution to the transformation of the club", then-manager
Claudio Ranieri handed Di Matteo the honour of leading the Chelsea team out in the
2002 FA Cup Final, which Chelsea went on to lose 2–0 to London rivals
Arsenal.
[5]Di Matteo was selected in a Chelsea greatest-ever XI.
[citation needed] In his six years at Chelsea, he made 175 appearances and scored 26 goals. Whilst playing at Chelsea, he never lost with the team at
Old Trafford.
[6][edit]International
His first goal was scored on his 23rd cap, in qualification for the
1998 FIFA World Cup, on 30 April 1997 in a 3-0 win against
Poland in
Catania. Di Matteo only scored one more goal for Italy, in a friendly win over
Slovakia on 28 January 1998. He was a member of Italy's World Cup team in 1998 and played two of their group games, against Chile and Cameroon. The match against Cameroon in Montpellier was his last game for Italy.
[edit]International goals
- Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first.
[edit]Management career
[edit]Milton Keynes Dons
On 2 July 2008, Di Matteo succeeded former England midfielder
Paul Ince as manager of
Milton Keynes Dons, after Ince took the manager's job at
Premier League club
Blackburn Rovers. A club statement by the Dons said that both Di Matteo and the club were "young, ambitious and hungry to succeed".
[7] On 26 November that year, Di Matteo took former Chelsea team-mate and Norwegian international striker
Tore André Flo out of retirement by signing him on a contract until the end of the season.
[8][edit]West Bromwich Albion
On the opening day of the
2010–11 Premier League season (14 August 2010), Di Matteo paid a return visit to Stamford Bridge as head coach of West Bromwich Albion, but saw his side lose 6–0 to Chelsea. Better results in following matches led to the best start in a Premier League Season by the club, and Di Matteo was also named Premier League Manager of the Month for September 2010.
[11] During December 2010 and January 2011, the club had a period of poor form, winning only one of ten matches. The majority of fans were still loyal to Di Matteo, but after a 0–3 defeat to
Manchester City on 5 February 2011, he was relieved of his duties with immediate effect,
[12] and first-team coach
Michael Appleton was appointed caretaker manager.
[13] West Bromwich finished the season in eleventh position.
[edit]Chelsea FC
On 4 March 2012, following the dismissal of Villas-Boas, Di Matteo became Interim first-team coach of Chelsea until the end of the season.
[16] Officially according to
Chelsea he was then "Interim first team coach".
[17] He started his tenure at Chelsea in winning form, with victories over Birmingham City, in a fifth round
FA Cup match;
Stoke City in a
Premier League fixture; and
Napoli in the last 16 second leg match in the
UEFA Champions League, winning 4–1 in an historic club victory overturn of a deficit in the first leg in which Villas-Boas' Chelsea had lost 3–1.
[18]Di Matteo continued his great form with Chelsea, by beating
Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semi-final at the
Wembley Stadium and
Benfica in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. On 24 April 2012, Di Matteo led Chelsea to a 3–2 aggregate win over holders
Barcelona in the
UEFA Champions League semi-final, winning 1–0 in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, and following this with an extraordinary 2-2 draw in the second leg at the
Camp Nou, having had captain
John Terry sent off in the first half. On 5 May 2012, Chelsea won 2–1 against
Liverpool in the
2012 FA Cup Final at
Wembley Stadium, helping Chelsea to win their first trophy in the 2011-12 season.
[19]On 19 May 2012, Di Matteo guided Chelsea to victory in the
2012 UEFA Champions League Final, after a thrilling encounter with
Bayern Munich. The match had ended 1-1 after extra time with Chelsea coming out victorious in the penalty shootout.
[20] This was Chelsea's first UEFA Champions League title and qualified them for the 2012–13 Champions League, in place of London rivals
Tottenham Hotspur. With this win Chelsea also became the first London club to lift the Champions League. On 13 June 2012,
Chelsea announced on their official website that Di Matteo had been appointed manager and first-team coach on a permanent basis signing a two-year contract with the club.
[21] Chelsea Chief executive Ron Gourlay said: 'Although he (Di Matteo) has set the bar very high in the short time he has been in charge, we know that Roberto is the right man to lead Chelsea onto further success.' Gourlay added: 'We are already looking forward to the 2012-13 season which kicks off when Roberto, his staff and players return for pre-season.'
[22][edit]Personal life
Di Matteo currently lives in
Chelsea, London. He lives with wife Zoe, and has three children.
[23][edit]Honours
- FC Aarau
- Chelsea
[edit]Manager
- West Bromwich Albion
- Chelsea
- Individual
[edit]Statistics
[edit]Managerial
- As of 19 July 2012
| Team | From | To | Record |
|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % |
|---|
 MK Dons | 2 July 2008 | 30 June 2009 | 52 | 27 | 11 | 14 | 51.92 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 30 June 2009 | 6 February 2011 | 83 | 40 | 19 | 24 | 48.19 |
| Chelsea | 4 March 2012 | present | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 63.64 |
| Total | 157 | 81 | 35 | 41 | 51.59 |
|---|
