Matteo Brighi

Rimini

Brighi began his association football professional career at Rimini in Serie C2 in 1998. He did not appear for the football club during the 1997–98 season. The following season, he made ten league appearances, scoring one goal, as substitute. Brighi also played for the team in 1998–99 Coppa Italia Serie C, where he was a starter. In his next professional season with Rimini, Brighi scored 6 goals, in 34 league appearances. He also took part in the promotion playoffs of the season, scoring twice.

Juventus

In the summer of 2000, Brighi moved to Juventus. Although the club had initially purchased him in the summer of 1999 with the intent of having him play with the team's Primavera youth side before joining the first team, his signing was delayed by a year, as Brighi wanted to complete his high school diploma in accounting prior to moving to the club. Brighi made 11 league appearances and 12 in total for Juventus first team during the 2000–01 Serie A season under manager Carlo Ancelotti, despite still eligible to their Primavera under-20 side. Juventus ended the season in second place in Serie A. In the summer of 2001, Brighi was sent on loan to Bologna for the 2001–02 Serie A. His excellent performances under manager Francesco Guidolin soon saw him break into the starting XI, and he earned a reputation as one of Italy's most promising midfielders, winning the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year Award in 2002. In total, he made 32 league appearances…

At youth level, Brighi played for the Italy national under-21 football team at the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, forming the team's midfield alongside Manuele Blasi, Andrea Pirlo, and Marco Marchionni, as they reached the semi-finals. He also won the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and helped the team qualify to the 2004 Summer Olympics, although he was not included by head coach Claudio Gentile in the squad for the final tournament. In total, he made 35 appearances for the Italy under-21 side, scoring two goals, and also served as the team's captain for a time. Brighi's senior debut for Italy came at age 21, when he started in a 1–0 friendly defeat against Slovenia on 21 August 2002, in Trieste. After several years without a senior international call-up, he has called up once again by head coach Marcello Lippi for Italy's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Montenegro and the Republic of Ireland in March 2009. On 28 March, Brighi was put on as a substitute in the 80th minute of a 2–0 away win against Montenegro, playing for his first time since 2002. Four days later, he was chosen for the starting line-up in Italy's 1–1 draw with the Republic of Ireland. Brighi was called up again to play in Italy's pre-2009 FIFA Confederations Cup friendly against Northern Ireland in Pisa on 6 June. Brighi came on as a substitute for Gennaro Gattuso at the beginning of the second-half, and provided many spectacular passes, one of which led to a goal, as…

Coming up as one of the most promising young players in Italy and Europe in his early career, in 2001 Brighi was named one of the 101 best young players in the world by Don Balón, while in 2002 he was named the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year. He is noted in particular for his stamina, pace, tenacity, and tackling, as well as his willingness to press and chase down opponents in order to win the ball. He has also been praised for his movement off the ball and ability to make attacking runs, which enables him to get into good offensive positions from which he can score goals. His skills and playing style in his youth led him to be compared to Argentine former midfielder Fernando Redondo, as well as Carlo Ancelotti.

Brighi is the second of four brothers, who also play football; his younger brother, Marco, is also a professional footballer. Brighi was the highest rated player in the FIFA Football 2003 video game, with a rating of 97 out of 99, which is higher than the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in subsequent FIFA games. This helped him achieve significant notability among fans and gamers.