Alessandro Nesta

Lazio

Nesta was first discovered by Francesco Rocca, a scout for Roma, but his father, a Lazio fan, turned down the offer. He began his youth career with Lazio in 1985, playing in various roles, including as a striker and midfielder, before being placed in the role of a defender. In the 1993–94 season he was called up to the first team, and on 13 March 1994 he made his debut in a 2–2 away draw against Udinese; Nesta came on for Pierluigi Casiraghi during the 78th minute. He assumed the team captaincy in 1997 under Sven-Göran Eriksson, and helped Lazio win the 1998 Coppa Italia against AC Milan in the final 3–2 on aggregate, in which he scored the decisive goal in the second leg. He would also make the UEFA Cup Final that season, losing out 3–0 to Inter Milan. Nesta was awarded the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year Award at the 1998 Italian footballing awards for his performance throughout the season. The following year he was forced to stay out for nearly half the season due to ligament injuries suffered during the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He returned to the field in December, and, as captain, led Lazio in the title race, lost by a single point on the final day of the season. He did, however, win the first two trophies at the international level of his team: the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, won against Mallorca, and, in August, the European Super Cup over Manchester United. In the 1999–2000 season he led Lazio to the Scudetto and Coppa Italia, winning the double. During the…

Youth

Nesta began his career for Italy and was a member of the under-21 squad that won the 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship; in the final against Spain, following a 1–1 draw, he took Italy's fourth penalty in an eventual 4–2 shoot-out victory. A few months later, he was named to Italy's UEFA Euro 1996 squad in England by Arrigo Sacchi, but did not come off the bench as Italy were eliminated in the group stage by eventual finalists Germany and the Czech Republic. Later that year, he took part at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta with the under-21 side, where Italy were eliminated in the first round.

Senior

Early senior career

On 5 October 1996, Nesta debuted for the Italy national football team under Cesare Maldini during a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, in a 3–1 away victory against Moldova. At the final tournament, Nesta played in all three group games, playing alongside Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Costacurta and Giuseppe Bergomi, helping Italy keep a clean sheet against Cameroon. However, he did not make further appearances due to injury as Italy was eliminated by the hosts and eventual champions France on penalties in the quarter-finals.

UEFA Euro 2000

After featuring in defence for Italy during the Euro 2000 qualifying campaign under Dino Zoff, Nesta featured in the Italian starting lineup at Euro 2000, partnering with Paolo Maldini and Fabio Cannavaro in defence throughout most of the tournament.…

Miami

On 31 August 2015, Nesta was introduced as the first head coach of the newly formed Miami FC, which began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in April 2016. After finishing a combined 7th place in his first season, Miami FC finished in first place in his second, as Spring and Fall champions of the 2017 NASL season. However, the team were defeated in the season playoffs semifinal round to the New York Cosmos following a 6–5 loss in the penalty shootout after a goalless draw. He resigned as coach following the completion of the 2017 season, on 17 November.

Perugia

On 14 May 2018, Nesta was appointed manager of Perugia. After a 4–1 loss to Verona in the 2018–19 Serie B promotion playoffs, Nesta parted with Perugia on 21 May 2019.

Frosinone

On 17 June 2019, Nesta was appointed manager of Frosinone on a two-year contract. The team finished the 2019–20 Serie B season in 8th, just making it into the playoffs. They lost the playoff final to Spezia after a 1–1 aggregate draw, as the opponents had performed better in the regular season. On 22 March 2021, Nesta was sacked.

Reggiana

On 13 June 2023, Nesta was appointed manager of Reggiana on a one-year contract. His team finished 11th in Serie B in his only season.

Monza

On 12 June 2024, Serie A side Monza announced the appointment of Nesta as head coach, starting from 1 July. He replaced Raffaele Palladino, who had left for Fiorentina after helping the team to 12th place…

Nesta was a defender, who was influential both at club and international level, and who is regarded as being one of the greatest and most talented defenders of his generation. While possessing a strong and imposing defensive, athletic and physical presence, he was noted for his agility, ball skills, vision, and passing ability., which allowed him to bring the ball out of the defence and start plays from the back after winning back possession; these abilities led him to be compared to former Milan captain Franco Baresi. Although Nesta was usually deployed as a centre-back during his career, he initially started out as a right-sided full-back; his technical skills, athleticism and defensive ability made him a versatile player from a tactical standpoint, who was capable of playing anywhere along the backline, and also allowed him to be deployed on the left, or even as a sweeper on occasion. Nesta was also excellent in the air, and was unusually quick for a centreback; he often stood out throughout his career for his pace, acceleration, and stamina. In addition to his class, as well as his technical and physical abilities, Nesta also possessed an excellent positional and tactical sense, as well as an acute capacity to read the game, which enabled him to anticipate and close down opponents in one on one situations, and prevent attacking plays; his defensive intelligence enabled him to maintain a consistently high level of performance even towards the end of his career, as he lost…