Matteo Ferrari

Early career

Ferrari started his career at SPAL in 1995, and he can play as a left-back or centre-back. It has all the rigmarole of youth teams, from young students: the coach of the time, Luigi Pasetti, employed him as a central striker, and the player scored 37 goals in the league before switching back to defence. Internazionale brought him to their youth system, later farming him to Genoa CFC (in co-ownership), Lecce (in co-ownership) and AS Bari (loan). He made his Serie A debut on 29 August 1999, when Bari lost 1-0 to Fiorentina 1–0, where Ferrari played the full match. He went back to Inter in summer 2000, making 27 appearances in all competition, but failed to stay, this time sold to Parma in co-ownership deal, for 9 billion lire (€4,648,112). That season Parma also signed Sébastien Frey from Internazionale for 40 billion lire (€20,658,275; cash plus Sérgio Conceição) and sold Gianluigi Buffon and Lilian Thuram to Juventus.

Parma

A permanent transfer was made because of his good performance in May 2002, for €5.7 million. That season, Inter also sent Adriano and Vratislav Greško to Parma (in co-ownership deal for €8.8 million and definite deal for €16 million), and signed Fabio Cannavaro (undisclosed) and Matías Almeyda (for €16 million) from the Emilia side. In three seasons as a starter for Parma, Ferrari appeared in 81 league matches and scored three goals. At Parma, Ferrari led his team win their first National convenor.

Roma

On 31 July…

Youth teams

Although he was also eligible to represent Algeria at international level, Ferrari chose to play for the Italy national football team. He also played for their U15, U16, U17, U18, U20, and U21 team, winning the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with the Italy U21 side.

Italy Olympic Team

Ferrari played at two Olympic Games with the Italy U23 side, in 2000 and in 2004. In 2000, he only played in Italy's 1–0 quarter-final defeat to Spain. In 2004, he was one of the three over-age players permitted for Italy. He played in all of their matches as they lost 3–0 in the semi-finals to eventual champions Argentina, then won the Bronze Medal match 1–0 against Iraq.

Senior team

Ferrari's first senior call-up was in October 2002 under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, for a Euro 2004 qualifier against Serbia and Montenegro (as FR Yugoslavia), but he did not play in the 1–1 home draw. In the same year, he made his full debut in a 1–1 friendly home draw against Turkey in Pescara, on 20 November 2002. He played his first competitive international for Italy in a Euro 2004 qualifying match against Azerbaijan in Reggio Calabria, replacing Alessandro Nesta for the last 14 minutes in the 4–0 victory. His last cap for Italy came in a 4–0 friendly win against Tunisia in Tunis, on 30 May 2004, with Ferrari coming on for Fabio Cannavaro as a second-half substitute. He was called up for Euro 2004 by manager Trapattoni, but did not play in the tournament;…

Matteo Ferrari is the Algeria-born son of an Italian petroleum engineer and a mother originally from Guinea. His father worked in various countries throughout Africa because of his vocation. His father died in 1993 when Matteo was 14. He grew up in Ferrara and has a brother who was a football player. Ferrari and Venezuelan model Aída Yéspica re-united in December 2009. They have a son named Aron, born in 2008.

Parma

Coppa Italia: 2001–02 Roma

Coppa Italia: 2006–07, 2007–08 Supercoppa Italiana: 2007 Beşiktaş

Turkish Cup: 2010–11 Montreal Impact

Canadian Championship: 2013, 2014 Italy Olympic

Summer Olympics bronze medal: 2004 Orders

5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2004