Pellegrino Matarazzo

After his graduation from Columbia, Matarazzo decided to go for a career as a professional soccer player. After failed trials at Serie B club Salernitana based in his mother's hometown, Salerno, and Serie C club Juve Stabia in Italy, he signed in Germany's fourth division with Eintracht Bad Kreuznach. Between 2001 and 2005, Matarazzo played for SV Wehen with a year at Preußen Münster for the 2003–04 season, as well as SG Wattenscheid 09 and 1. FC Nürnberg's reserve team. Later, Matarazzo served as assistant coach while playing for Nürnberg II at the same time.

Early career

Matarazzo worked many years at Nürnberg's academy, coaching the B and A juniors. In 2015, Matarazzo started the German coaching training at the Hennes-Weisweiler-Akademie, where he shared a room with Julian Nagelsmann. Later, Matarazzo joined Nagelsmann's coaching staff at Hoffenheim in 2017, becoming youth coach there. In 2018, Matarazzo became Nagelsmann's assistant and interfaced between the first team and academy, and stayed there with Alfred Schreuder as head coach. In December 2019, Sven Mislintat signed Matarazzo as first team coach of VfB Stuttgart. He was sacked in October 2022.

TSG Hoffenheim

On February 8, 2023, Matarazzo returned to TSG Hoffenheim, this time as head coach of the first team. He signed a contract until June 2025, replacing André Breitenreiter. In November 2024, he was sacked.

Real Sociedad

On December 20, 2025, Matarazzo was appointed as head coach of La Liga club Real Sociedad, signing a contract until June 2027. On April 18, 2026, he secured the Copa del Rey title following a penalty shootout victory over Atlético Madrid in the final, becoming the first American coach to win a major trophy in one of Europe's top five leagues. On 7 July 2026, he signed a new two-year contract with the club until 2028.

Matarazzo was raised in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants. He has three younger brothers: Leo, Frank, and Antonio, all of them were in a Napoli fanclub at the time Diego Maradona played there. Leo and Antonio also played at Columbia. He played several sports growing up, including basketball and volleyball due to his height, but saw the most success in soccer, being a four-year varsity starter for Fair Lawn High School, leading the Cutters to the state tournament as a senior for the first time in nearly 20 years, before graduating in 1995. Matarazzo was later inducted into the Fair Lawn High School Athletics Hall of Fame in the Class of 2016. He went on to play at Columbia University, where he earned a degree in applied mathematics in 1999.