Massimo Oddo

Oddo started his career at Renato Curi Angolana of Serie D and moved to AC Milan youth team in 1993. After spending two years on the bench, in the hope of more playing opportunities, he moved to Serie C team Fiorenzuola on loan. It was followed by other three Serie C groups (Monza, Prato, Lecco). He returned to promoted Serie B team Monza in 1998 and left a year later for Napoli (in a co-ownership deal). He helped Napoli win promotion to Serie A after a successful 1999–2000 Serie B and joined Hellas Verona that summer. While at Verona, Oddo completed his obligatory military service. He would spend Monday through Thursday at the military barracks and then, on Fridays, would join up with his teammates for training. After two successful seasons with Verona, Italian giants Lazio purchased him. At Lazio, he had the opportunity to play in the UEFA Champions League in the season 2003–04 and the UEFA Cup competition in the 2002–03 and 2004–05 seasons. The team reached the semi-finals in 2003. Moreover, his third season with Lazio earned him the Coppa Italia winner title. He became the captain of Lazio for the first half of the 2006–07 season, following the departure of Fabio Liverani to Fiorentina. On 23 January 2007, it was announced that Milan and Lazio had reached an accord for Oddo's transfer to the Rossoneri after a long negotiation period. The overall price was €10.75 million (cash plus Pasquale Foggia, who had been on loan at the club since the start of the season) and Oddo…

Oddo made his national debut on 21 August 2002, in a 1–0 home defeat to Slovenia, replacing Matteo Brighi during the second half, as part of a reformed squad after the unsuccessful 2002 FIFA World Cup performance of the Azzurri, under Giovanni Trapattoni. He was a starter at seven Euro 2004 qualifying matches. During the main competition in Portugal, he made one appearance, playing as a substitute in Italy's final group game against Bulgaria (22 June 2004); during the match, he supplied an assist for Cassano's goal, which helped Italy win the match 2–1, although they were eliminated from the tournament in the first round on direct encounters, following a three-way five-point tie with Denmark and Sweden. Subsequently, Oddo was a member of Italy's championship-winning squad during the 2006 FIFA World Cup under Marcello Lippi, as back up to Gianluca Zambrotta, making one substitute appearance in Italy's 3–0 win over Ukraine in the quarter-finals of the tournament. At the end of 2006 FIFA World Cup final match in Germany, in which Italy defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out, Oddo chopped off a large chunk of his teammate Mauro Camoranesi's long hair as the rest of the squad danced around them in a circle. Oddo scored his first and only international goal for Italy from the penalty spot in a Euro 2008 qualifying match on 7 October 2006 against Ukraine, under manager Roberto Donadoni, which ended in a 2–0 victory for the Italians. Oddo made his 34th and final appearance for…

Oddo was primarily deployed on the right flank as an offensive full-back or wing-back, or even as a wide-midfielder on occasion, due to his stamina, work-rate, defensive consistency, attacking drive, and crossing ability. In his later career, he was deployed in a more defensive role as a central-defender. Despite being a defender, Oddo was known for his ability on set pieces and penalties.

After retirement, he decided to pursue a coaching career, accepting an offer as youth coach of the Allievi Regionali B for Genoa in August 2013. He left his job in July 2014 to accept an offer to guide the Primavera (under-19) squad of his hometown club Pescara. On 23 May 2015, he was promoted as head coach of Pescara after the dismissal of Marco Baroni with only one game remaining, a home match against Livorno (coached by former Italy teammate Christian Panucci), with both teams still involved in the race for a promotion playoff spot. The game ended with a 3–0 win for Pescara, which qualified the team to the Serie A promotion playoffs. On 9 June 2016, Oddo led Pescara to Serie A promotion after beating out Trapani 3–1 on aggregate in the Serie B promotion play-off final. On 15 July 2016, Pescara extended Oddo's contract by three years, keeping him as manager of the club until June 2019. He was sacked on 14 February 2017. On 21 November 2017, Oddo was named the head coach of Udinese following the sacking of Luigi Delneri. He was sacked on 24 April 2018, with Udinese in 15th place, as they lost 11 matches in a row. On 29 October 2018, Serie B club Crotone announced the hiring of Oddo. However, he failed to change the fortunes of the club, failing to win a single game before resigning on 28 December following a 0–3 home defeat to Spezia. On 7 June 2019, Oddo was appointed head coach of Perugia. He was dismissed by Perugia on 4 January 2020. He was rehired again on 19 July, and…