Massimo Maccarone (; born 6 September 1979) is an Italian

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and former player, who played as a striker. He was nicknamed ''Big Mac'' during his playing days. He is currently in charge as head coach of

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

amateurs Ghiviborgo.

Club career

Early career

Maccarone started his career at

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 ...

's youth system. In 1998, he went on loan to

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

, but did not make a single appearance. In 1999, he was transferred to Serie C2 team

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...

(in a co-ownership deal), scoring 20 goals in 28 league matches, finishing the season as the top scorer in the 1999–2000 Serie C2 season. In 2000, he was bought back by Milan and transferred to

Empoli F.C. Empoli Football Club, commonly referred to as Empoli, is an Italian football club based in Empoli, Metropolitan City of Florence. Founded in 1920, the side is part of a select group of Italian football clubs that do not belong to a provincial ...

, helping the club get promoted to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

during the 2001–02 season. In the same period, he was one of the most outstanding players of the Italian U21 team which reached the semi-finals in the

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qua ...

. As a result, he was noticed by several teams.

Middlesbrough

Maccarone was signed by

English 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 Fo ...

team

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 9 July 2002 for £8.15 million (€12.7 million). He made his debut 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 ...

on 17 August 2002. On his second appearance and his home debut the following week he scored twice in a 2–2 draw with

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 ...

. Another highlight in his first season was scoring twice as Middlesbrough defeated

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

5–1. Maccarone was an unused substitute when Middlesbrough won the 2004 Football League Cup Final. Despite showing fine early form in his first few matches for Middlesbrough, the remainder of his spell at the club was a struggle to justify his price tag and during the first half of the 2004–05 season he was loaned out to

club

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

, and in January 2005 to

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

. Maccarone returned to Middlesbrough for the 2005–06 season, and despite not being a regular first-team player, endeared himself to the Middlesbrough fans, especially through his work-rate and attitude. The player's spell at Middlesbrough is remembered for two last minute winners in key

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

ties in 2006. He scored against

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

in the second leg of the quarter-finals, a tie in which Middlesbrough overturned a three-goal deficit to win 4–3 on aggregate. In the semi-final of the same competition he came on as a substitute and scored twice in the aggregate 4–3 win over Steaua Bucharest, scoring one of Middlesbrough F.C's most iconic goals of all time, once again in the 90th minute, taking ''Boro'' to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Jerrel Floyd "Jimmy" Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of League One club Burton Albion. Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to t ...

declared "Massimo, I love him until I die... it's unbelievable".

Siena

Despite these heroics, he made few appearances for Middlesbrough in the following season and in January 2007, Maccarone moved to Siena in a free transfer, signing a three-year contract. In February 2007, he made headlines by criticising former Middlesbrough and then-

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

manager

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching caree ...

for his "ineptitude", causing his club's chairman Steve Gibson to call Maccarone "a fool". On 11 February 2007, he played his first Serie A match after his Siena return, against

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

. Maccarone scored a brace in the 4–3 defeat against

on 17 February, to register his first goals for Siena. He finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

with six goals, and added 13 in the following (club best by a long margin), as Siena achieved two consecutive 13th league places. After the club was relegated at the end of the 2009–10 season, Maccarone agreed a move to Sicilian Serie A club

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, signing a three-year deal with the ''rosanero'', for €4.5 million.

Palermo

His stint at Palermo however turned out to be a disappointing one, with only two league goals in 18 games.

Sampdoria

On 24 January 2011, Maccarone signed for

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

for €2.7 million on a -year contract.''Relazione sulla Gestione'' of UC Sampdoria Report and Accounts on 31 December 2010 (in Italian)

Empoli

From January 2012 to June 2014 Maccarone returned to Empoli in temporary deals. His contract was also extended to 30 June 2015 in 2012. On 17 July 2014 he was allowed to join Empoli on a free transfer.

Brisbane Roar

On 17 July 2017, Maccarone signed a one-year marquee deal with

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

Carrarese

On 25 May 2018, he was signed by Italian

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

team

Carrarese Carrarese Calcio 1908, commonly referred to as Carrarese, is an Italian football club based in Carrara, Tuscany. It currently plays in Serie C, having last been in Serie B in 1948. History The club was founded in 1908. In the season 2010–1 ...

International career

During his time at Empoli, Maccarone made his debut with the Italy Under-21 side under

Marco Tardelli Marco Tardelli (; born 24 September 1954) is an Italian former football player and manager. At club level, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs; he began his career with Pisa, and later played for Como, Juventus, and Internaziona ...

. He later earned a place as a starting striker in

Claudio Gentile Claudio Gentile (; born 27 September 1953) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender in the 1970s and 1980s. Gentile appeared for Italy in two World Cup tournaments, and played for the winning Italian team in ...

's Italy Under-21 side between 2000 and 2002. In total, he scored 11 goals with the Under-21 side in 15 appearances, and he took part at the 2002 Under-21 European Championship with Italy, where he finished as the tournament's top scorer, with 3 goals, helping Italy to reach the semi-finals, where they lost out to the eventual champions, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. During the group stage, he scored two goals in a 2–1 win against the England Under-21 side in Basel. In 2002, he played twice for the

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

senior side. He made his senior international debut on 27 March, in a friendly match against

in Leeds; he came on as a late substitute, with the score level at 1–1. In injury time, Maccarone was fouled in the area by the English goalkeeper David James, allowing

Vincenzo Montella Vincenzo Montella (; born 18 June 1974) is an Italian retired footballer and current manager, who played as a striker. He is current manager of Süper Lig club Adana Demirspor. Montella's nickname during his playing career was "Aeroplanino", i ...

to score the winning goal from the penalty spot. Maccarone had scored a goal in a 1–1 friendly draw in Bradford against the England Under-21 side earlier that week. It had been over seventy years that a

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

player had made his debut with the Italian national side before making his

debut. He made his second and final appearance for the Italian senior side on 16 October 2002, in a 2–1 away defeat against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in a European Championship qualifying match.

Style of play

Maccarone predominantly plays as a striker, although he is also capable of being deployed as a supporting forward or as a winger, where he is able to move into the centre of the pitch and

curl cURL (pronounced like "curl", UK: , US: ) is a computer software project providing a library (libcurl) and command-line tool (curl) for transferring data using various network protocols. The name stands for "Client URL". History cURL was fi ...

shots towards goal with his stronger foot, due to his striking ability from distance, and his eye for goal. Maccarone is capable of shooting with either foot, and he possesses good tactical intelligence, pace, and technique, as well as a strong mentality and good composure in front of goal; morehowever, he is effective in the air.

Coaching career

Following his retirement, he stayed on at

as a technical collaborator under his former boss

Silvio Baldini Silvio Baldini (born 11 September 1958 in Massa) is an Italian association football manager, last in charge of Serie B club Perugia. Career Early years Born in Massa but hailing from nearby Carrara, Baldini started his coaching career in 1984 ...

for the 2020–21 season, leaving in April 2021 following the appointment of

Antonio Di Natale Antonio Di Natale (; born 13 October 1977) is an Italian fotball coach and former professional player who played as a striker. After being a member of the Empoli youth side since 1994, Di Natale started his professional career with the Empol ...

as the club's new head coach. In June 2022, Maccarone took on his first role as head coach, accepting a job offer from Tuscan

amateurs Ghiviborgo.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Middlesbrough *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 2003–04 *

runner-up: 2005–06

Individual

* UEFA European Under-21 Championship Top-scorer:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

References

External links

*
FIGC national team stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maccarone, Massimo 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Novara Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian expatriate footballers A.C. Milan players Brisbane Roar FC players Empoli F.C. players Modena F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Parma Calcio 1913 players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players S.S.D. Varese Calcio players A.C. Prato players Palermo F.C. players U.C. Sampdoria players Carrarese Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Premier League players A-League Men players Association football forwards Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate soccer players in Australia Marquee players (A-League Men) Italian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Footballers from Piedmont