Luigi Di Biagio

Early career: Lazio, Monza, and Foggia

Di Biagio was born in Rome, on 3 June 1971. He initially played for Lazio (1988–89), making his Serie A debut with the side, and later played for Monza (1989–92) in Serie B and Serie C1, winning the Coppa Italia C1 in 1991. He later moved on to play for Foggia (1992–95) under Zeman, where he gained promotion to Serie A once again, establishing himself in the starting lineup of the club as a defensive minded central midfielder, who also served as a playmaker; he notably reached the semi-final of the Coppa Italia with Foggia during the 1994–95 season, attracting the attention of bigger Italian clubs.

Roma

Di Biagio began to achieve greater international exposure and fame in Italy due to his excellent and consistent performances whilst playing for Roma (1995–99), where he remained for five seasons, under managers Carlo Mazzone, Carlos Bianchi and Zeman once again; he would make his career debut in European Competitions with the club. During his time at Roma, he was able to help the squad to a fourth-place finish during the 1997–98 season, and managed to subsequently reach the quarter-finals of the 1998–99 UEFA Cup and the 1997–98 Coppa Italia. His consistent performances led him to become a permanent member of the Italy national side during this period. Di Biagio would make 140 appearances for Roma in all competitions, scoring 18 goals. 15 of his goals were scored in Serie A in 114 appearances.

Inter Milan

At…

Di Biagio was a regular member of the national side during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and was capped 31 times for Italy between 1998 and 2002, scoring two goals. He represented Italy at Under-23 level at the 1993 Mediterranean games, where they reached the final under manager Cesare Maldini. He made his senior debut for Italy on 28 January 1998, in a 3–0 friendly home win against Slovakia, under Cesare Maldini. After a strong season with Roma, Di Biagio represented his country in the 1998 World Cup, appearing in each of Italy's five matches, and scoring a headed goal from a Roberto Baggio cross in the second group stage match against Cameroon, which ended in a 3–0 win for Italy; his goal being the 100th goal for Italy in World Cup matches. In the round of 16 match against Norway, Di Biagio set up Vieri's match-winning goal, and helped Italy to keep a clean sheet. Despite a strong tournament, in which he was considered to be one of the best performing midfielders, he missed the decisive penalty in the quarter-final shootout against hosts and eventual champions France, after a 0–0 deadlock following extra time, hitting the crossbar, as Italy were eliminated from the tournament. Di Biagio continued to be a key player for Italy under Dino Zoff, and he went on to represent Italy at Euro 2000, starting alongside Albertini in midfield, and winning a runners-up medal as Italy lost 2–1 to France in the final on a golden goal. Di Biagio had another successful tournament for…

Di Biagio was regarded one of Italy's best and most consistent midfielders during the later 1990s and early 2000s, and one of the best players in the world in his position during his prime, consistently providing excellent performances for Roma, Inter and the Italy national side; he often stood out throughout his career for his leadership. Di Biagio was a complete, tenacious and combative defensive midfielder, whose best strengths involved quickly breaking up the opposition's attacks, although he was also capable of getting forward when needed, due to his ability to make attacking runs into the area, which enabled him to contribute to his team's offensive play with goals. Furthermore, he was known for his ability to either set the tempo of his team's build-up plays with short exchanges, or start counter-attacks with long balls after winning back possession. Throughout his career, Di Biagio earned a reputation as a strong, aggressive and hard-tackling midfielder, who had a knack for picking up cards; after Paolo Montero, he is the player with the most red cards in Serie A history (12). He is also the tenth most booked players in Serie A history, with 104 yellow cards in 391 appearances in the Italian top flight. Although he was primarily deployed as a central or defensive midfielder, Di Biagio was capable of playing anywhere in midfield due to his tactical versatility, and played in every outfield position throughout his career, and was occasionally played in an attacking…

Following his retirement from Ascoli in 2007, Di Biagio returned to football, signing a contract with the amateur 1993 youth side La Polisportiva La Storta as a youth coach, in 2008. In August 2007, he signed a contract with Cisco Roma as a youth coach. In July 2008, he had managed to officially obtain his first degree coaching licence. On 25 July 2011, he was named the coach of Italy's under-20 side. On 2 July 2013, Luigi Di Biagio stepped up an age group to replace Devis Mangia as Italy's under-21 coach. He made his debut as the Italy under-21 coach on 14 August 2013, in a friendly match against Slovakia, which was won 4–1 by Italy. He eventually helped the U-21 side to qualify for the upcoming 2015 Under-21 European Championship in the Czech Republic, as Italy defeated Slovakia once again in the play-offs. In the final tournament, Italy were placed in a group containing England and eventual finalists Portugal and Sweden, the latter of whom would go on to win the tournament. Italy finished third in their group, and were eliminated in the first round with four points. Di Biagio led the Italy under-21 side to the semi-finals of the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where they were eliminated by Spain on 27 June, following a 3–1 defeat. On 5 February 2018, Di Biagio was confirmed to be the caretaker manager of the senior Italy team for their two friendlies on 23 and 27 March 2018 against Argentina and England respectively. On 17 March 2018, Di Biagio called up veteran…