Dominic Matteo (born 28 April 1974) is a Scottish former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a
defender and
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
in a 17-year professional career from 1992 to 2009. He made a total of 366 league and cup appearances, of which 276 were in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
.
Matteo played for
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
,
Sunderland,
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
,
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
and
Stoke City. His most notable individual moment was his goal in the
Champions League against
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...
. The latter part of his career was increasingly affected by injuries, which led to his retirement in 2009 at the age of 35. He struggled with gambling addictions and was declared bankrupt in 2015. He was capped six times by
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
after originally representing England at
under-21 and
'B' team level.
Early life
Dominic Matteo was born in
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
on 28 April 1974.
His birth mother, Margaret, was a 17-year-old pupil when she fell pregnant, naming him Stephen. Very young and without an income, she made "the most difficult decision of my life" in putting him up for adoption, being persuaded that it was the best decision by the adoption agency when told about his adoptive parents.
Matteo's adoptive father, who "wanted his boy to play like
Cesare Maldini", ran Matthew's Cafe in Friars Vennel.
His adoptive father had Italian heritage and was a keen follower of European football. The family moved to
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
in late 1978. His adoptive parents, Albert and Marie, only told him when he was seven years old that he was adopted, along with his older brother.
Club career
Liverpool
Matteo was spotted playing for Birkdale United by
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
player
Kenny Dalglish, who had originally gone to Birkdale United just to watch his son,
Paul Dalglish
Paul Kenneth Dalglish (born 18 February 1977) is a Scottish former professional footballer.
Playing career
Dalglish, son of former Scotland international Kenny Dalglish, was born in Glasgow though spent his childhood in the city where his fa ...
. He progressed to a YTS contract at the age of 16. His versatility counted against him, as he was asked to play several positions in the reserve team and subsequently failed to establish himself in one position. However, he impressed enough to win a one-year professional contract at the age of 18. He then signed a new two-year contract in 1993.
He made his
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
debut for the "Reds" on 23 October 1993, when he replaced an injured
John Barnes
John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. He currently works as an author, commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially a quick, skilful left winger, he moved to ce ...
at left-wing in a 1–1 draw with
Manchester City at
Maine Road
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...
. He made a total of 13 appearances during the
1993–94 season. He joined
Mick Buxton
Michael James Buxton (born 29 May 1943) is a former footballer and football manager in England. He has managed Huddersfield Town, Scunthorpe United and Sunderland.
Playing career
During his playing career, Buxton played in the Football League ...
's
Sunderland on loan in March 1995, but made just one
First Division appearance for the "Black Cats", in a 2–0 defeat to
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
at
Oakwell on 24 March. After the game it transpired that his loan had not been registered in time, leaving him unable to play for Sunderland; though he had technically been an ineligible player against Barnsley, Sunderland escaped with only a £2,500 fine.
He scored two goals for Liverpool, one against
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
in the Premier League and another against
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...
in the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
.
After making arguably his biggest impact at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
in the
1999–2000 season, Matteo was expected to become a first team regular, but was instead sold to
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
in August 2000. He made 155 appearances and scored two goals for Liverpool.
Leeds United
In August 2000 he joined
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
despite failing his medical with the club. He made his team debut against
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...
the following month, in a
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
contest.
He was one of Leeds' best players through their
2000–01 Champions League campaign, in which they achieved a semi-final place.
He is fondly remembered by Leeds fans especially for the goal he scored at the ''
San Siro
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...
'' against Milan,
in the first group stage which ensured they would progress through to the next round. He ended that Champions League campaign with two goals, having also scored earlier against
Beşiktaş.
When
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and w ...
moved to
Manchester United in the summer of 2002, Matteo was handed
team captaincy.
Leeds were relegated at the end of
2003–04, despite Matteo's two goals against
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
and
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
.
His book, ''In My Defence'', was published in 2011. In an interview, given at the time of the book's release, he said that he had liked working with
David O'Leary
David Anthony O'Leary (born 2 May 1958) is a football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United, subsequently managing Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai. The majority of his 20-yea ...
and
Peter Ridsdale
Peter Ridsdale (born 11 March 1952) is an English businessman and advisor to the owner at Preston North End. He was until December 2011 the Chairman of Football Operations at Plymouth Argyle. Ridsdale was previously the chairman of Leeds United ...
at Leeds; " I loved working with David. He had been a great central defender at Arsenal. But, as things started to get on top of us, he spent more time in his office. He was nowhere near a failure and, if you finished fifth now, you would not expect the sack."
Blackburn Rovers
In July 2004, Matteo signed a three-year contract with
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
. He made his Blackburn debut against
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
in a 1–1 draw.
He scored his first and only goal for Blackburn in a 3–0 win over
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
in the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
.
Stoke City
In January 2007, Matteo moved to
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
side
Stoke City on a free transfer.
Signing a short-term contract until the summer, he played a total of 10 games and scoring one goal against
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 1884 ...
.
Matteo still continued to play for Stoke during the club's
2007–08 pre-season campaign, despite being out of contract. However, he was offered a new 12-month contract by the club on 10 August 2007. He was made captain by
Tony Pulis
Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday.
Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him one ...
in the season Stoke won promotion back to the top flight of the English football league system. Matteo played 13 league games up to the end of October after which he played only once more before the end of the season, a game in November 2007.
This was the last game of his playing career due to injury.
International career
Matteo won
Under-21 and
'B' caps for England, and was also called up for the main squad on two occasions but was never capped. He later was called up for the
Scotland side, having been born and lived as a young boy in
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
.
He went on to collect six caps for Scotland, making his debut against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in November 2000. After injury problems, he retired from international duty to concentrate on his career at
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
.
Personal life
While at Stoke Matteo progressed studying for his
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
coaching qualifications.
In his autobiography and interviews associated with its launch, Matteo admitted having run up over £1,000,000 in gambling debts.
He recalled betting £200,000 on a single horse race, although that bet won.
Matteo was declared bankrupt in 2015.
His book also repeatedly referenced Matteo being involved in a culture of heavy drinking.
In May 2013, Matteo returned to Leeds United in a new role as a Football Ambassador. He left this position in the summer of 2014 following a change of ownership to
Massimo Cellino
Massimo Cellino (; born 28 July 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and football club owner. Through his family trust Eleonora Sport Ltd he is the owner of Italian club Brescia Calcio, and is the former owner of italian club Cagliari, and English cl ...
. In November 2019, Matteo underwent surgery on a
brain tumour
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondary ...
, and was declared fully recovered in April the following year.
Career statistics
See also
*
List of sportspeople who competed for more than one nation
This is a list of sportspeople who have moved to compete for another country. Not included in this list are:
*Players who could choose to play for a new country after the dissolution of their former country. This mainly affected players from the ...
References
;General
*
;Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matteo, Dominic
1974 births
Living people
Footballers from Dumfries
English people of Italian descent
Scottish footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England B international footballers
Scotland international footballers
Association football fullbacks
Association football midfielders
Liverpool F.C. players
Sunderland A.F.C. players
Leeds United F.C. players
Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Premier League players
English Football League players
Scottish autobiographers
Anglo-Scots
Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff