Daniele De Rossi

Roma

2001–2006: Early career and emergence

De Rossi joined the Roma youth system from Ostiamare, where he had played as a striker, in 2000. He made his first-team debut for Roma under manager Fabio Capello on 30 October 2001 against Belgian side Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League. In his first season with the club, he also made three appearances in the Coppa Italia. The following season, he made his Serie A debut on 25 January 2003 against Como in Piacenza. Later that season, his first Serie A start, along with his first league and career goal, came on 10 May 2003 against Torino. He soon established himself as a permanent member of the starting line-up in the holding midfield position during the next few seasons, and was considered one of the most promising young Italian players in the league, helping Roma to a second-place finish in Serie A during the 2003–04 season, and consecutive Coppa Italia finals in 2005 and 2006. Due to his maturity, tenacity and leadership on the pitch, on 15 March 2006, De Rossi wore the captain's armband for the first time in an UEFA Cup match against Middlesbrough. Despite earning several cautions and a reputation as a hard-tackling player during the 2005–06 season, on 19 March 2006, De Rossi was praised by referee Mauro Bergonzi for fair play. Roma were trailing 1–0 in a Serie A match against Messina, when De Rossi scored a goal from a header, which had been deflected off of his hand; Bergonzi did not see the incident…

De Rossi is the highest scoring midfielder for the Italy national side post-World War II, with 21 goals in 117 international appearances, and the all-time second highest-scoring midfielder for Italy, behind only Adolfo Baloncieri. He is also the joint fifth-most capped player for the Italy national team.

Youth and early senior career

De Rossi played 16 matches for the Italy national under-21 football team and was a regular first-team member of the squad that won the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, scoring the opening goal in Italy's 3–0 win over Serbia and Montenegro in the final. In the same year, he also won a bronze medal in football with the Italy national football team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. A few weeks after returning from Greece, De Rossi earned his first cap with the Italy senior squad on 4 September 2004, scoring on his international debut in a 2–1 win against Norway in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match, at the age of 21. He wore Italy's captain's armband for the first time in the second half of a 0–0 friendly draw against Iceland on 30 March 2005.

2006 World Cup

De Rossi was named to Marcello Lippi's 23-man Italian squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, producing a notable performance in Italy's opening 2–0 win against Ghana, but also picking up a booking in the tenth minute. He started once again in the second group match against the United States; however, he received a straight red card after he elbowed Brian…

Regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world during his prime, De Rossi has been referred to as a "complete midfielder" because of his tackling, vision, awareness, passing range, strength, energy, and goal-scoring ability, which enable him to start counter-attacks or make attacking runs to advance into offensive positions after winning back possession. A quick, physical, hard-working and tenacious player, with good technique and an ability to read the game, he has been praised for his ball skills, stamina, positional sense and ability in the air, as well as his long-distance shooting; he is also an accurate penalty kick and set-piece taker. He has occasionally been criticised, however, for his aggression and tendency to pick up yellow cards unnecessarily. De Rossi's ability to break down opposition plays and his adeptness at the box-to-box style of midfield play has led pundits to compare him to other world class box-to-box midfielders, such as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. De Rossi has expressed admiration for Gerrard, as well as Roy Keane. Fellow former Roma and Italy midfielder Luigi Di Biagio likened De Rossi's playing style and position as a central midfielder to his own, due to their ability to assist their teams both offensively and defensively. De Rossi is considered to be one of the greatest Italian midfielders of his generation and of all time by pundits and managers. A former striker, De Rossi is a tactically intelligent and versatile player, who can…

Early years

Immediately after retirement, De Rossi stated his intention to become a coach, and he was quickly linked to several Serie A managerial vacancies between 2020 and 2021, such as Fiorentina, Crotone and Cagliari, all despite still not having the UEFA Pro Licence required to serve as head coach in the Italian top flight. In December 2020, De Rossi started the UEFA A licence course. On 18 March 2021, De Rossi was unveiled as Roberto Mancini's new assistant in charge of the Italy national team. On 11 July 2021, Italy won the UEFA Euro 2020 after a 3–2 victory on penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw on extra-time against England in the final. He successively left the Italian team to complete his UEFA A coaching course; following that, he moved back to a role within the Italian Football Federation, this time as a technical collaborator for the Under-15 to Under-20 youth representatives. In January 2022, he agreed to return to join Roberto Mancini's staff to help for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification playoffs. In September 2022, De Rossi was admitted to the UEFA Pro yearly coaching course organized by the Italian Football Federation, together with fellow 2006 FIFA World Cup winners Marco Amelia, Andrea Barzagli and Alessandro Del Piero.

SPAL

On 11 October 2022, De Rossi was appointed as the new manager of Serie B side SPAL. He was dismissed on 14 February 2023, leaving SPAL in eighteenth place in the Serie B league table.

Roma

On 16 January…