Pellegrino Matarazzo (born November 28, 1977) is an American professional
soccer coach who currently manages
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
He was previously a youth coach of
1. FC Nürnberg and
1899 Hoffenheim
Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg.
Originally founded in 189 ...
. In December 2019, Matarazzo was appointed head coach of
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...
. He has lived in Germany since 2000.
Early life
Matarazzo was raised in
Fair Lawn, New Jersey
Fair Lawn is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, and a bedroom suburb located northwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 34,940, which constituted a 7.7% increase from 32, ...
to Italian immigrants. He has three younger brothers: Leo, Frank, and
Antonio, all of them were in a Napoli fanclub at the time Diego Maradona played there. Leo and Antonio also played at Columbia. He played several sports growing up, including basketball and volleyball due to his height, but saw the most success in soccer, being a four-year varsity starter for
Fair Lawn High School
Fair Lawn High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Fair Lawn, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Fair Lawn P ...
, leading them to the state tournament as a senior for the first time in nearly twenty years. He went on to play at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where he earned a degree in applied mathematics in 1999.
Playing career
After his graduation from Columbia, Matarazzo decided to go for a career as a professional soccer player. After failed trials at Serie B club
Salernitana
Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is
an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...
based in his mother's hometown, Salerno, and Serie C club
Juve Stabia in Italy, he signed in Germany's fourth division with Eintracht Bad Kreuznach. Between 2001 to 2005, Matarazzo played for Wehen with a year at Münster for the 2003–2004 season, as well as Wattenscheid and Nürnberg. Later, Matarazzo served as assistant coach while playing for the reserve team at the same time.
Coaching career
Matarazzo worked many years at Nürnberg's academy, coaching the B and A juniors. In 2015, Matarazzo started the German coaching training at the
Hennes Weisweiler Akademie, where he shared a room with
Julian Nagelsmann
Julian Nagelsmann (born 23 July 1987) is a German professional Association football manager, football manager and former Association football player, football player who is the head coach of FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich. Prior to managing Baye ...
. Later, Matarazzo joined Nagelsmann's coaching staff at Hoffenheim in 2017, becoming youth coach there. In 2018, Matarazzo became Nagelsmann's assistant and interfaced between the first team and academy, and stayed there with
Alfred Schreuder
Alfred Schreuder (; born 2 November 1972) is a Dutch football coach, currently as head coach of Ajax.
Club career
During his career, Schreuder played for RKC Waalwijk, NAC Breda, Feyenoord, FC Twente and Vitesse. After he had stopped playing ...
as head coach. In December 2019,
Sven Mislintat signed Matarazzo as first team coach of VfB Stuttgart. He was sacked in October 2022.
On February 8, 2023, Matarazzo returned to
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, this time as manager of the first team. He signed a contract until June 2025, replacing
André Breitenreiter.
Managerial statistics
References
External links
*
1977 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Passaic County, New Jersey
American soccer players
Association football defenders
American people of Italian descent
Fair Lawn High School alumni
People from Fair Lawn, New Jersey
People from Wayne, New Jersey
Soccer players from New Jersey
Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey
Columbia Lions men's soccer players
Regionalliga players
Eintracht Bad Kreuznach players
SV Wehen Wiesbaden players
SC Preußen Münster players
SG Wattenscheid 09 players
1. FC Nürnberg II players
American soccer coaches
Association football coaches
Player-coaches
Italian football managers
Bundesliga managers
2. Bundesliga managers
VfB Stuttgart managers
Columbia University alumni
American expatriate soccer players
Italian expatriate footballers
Italian expatriate football managers
American expatriate soccer coaches
American expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Italian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Expatriate football managers in Germany
Expatriate footballers in Germany
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