Gabriele Marcotti (born 28 July 1973) is an Italian

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

, sports author, and radio-television presenter. Born in Italy and now based in London, he was raised in the United States (Chicago and New York), Poland, Germany and Japan. He is fluent in Italian, English, German, Spanish and knows conversational Japanese.

Early life

Marcotti briefly attended the European School, Varese in Varese, Italy. He subsequently obtained a bachelor's degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

and master's degree in journalism from

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 ...

, New York.

Print journalism career

Due to his fluency in both English and Italian, Marcotti writes for and contributes to various publications in both languages. In the United States, he is known for his work in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', and ''

ESPN FC ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as S ...

''. He also writes for ''Champions Magazine'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' in England, and the ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

'' in Scotland, having previously written for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' and the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

''. On 3 June 2019, Marcotti announced that he was leaving ''The Times'' to write exclusively for espnfc.com.https://twitter.com/Marcotti/status/1135447199335223301 In Italy he is a columnist for ''

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

'' and is the London correspondent of '' Il Corriere dello Sport''.

Broadcasting

After working for talkSPORT radio for six years, Marcotti switched to

Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...

, co-presenting the Friday edition of ''5 Live Sport'' alongside

Mark Pougatch Mark Charles Albert Pougatch (born 27 January 1968) is an English radio and television broadcaster, a journalist and author who is currently the Chief Sport Presenter for ITV Sport, fronting their major football and rugby coverage. He is also ...

to preview the weekend's fixtures in the Premier League and beyond. When

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Luke Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. In 2010, he became host of BBC Television's '' Match of the Day 2'' on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, including '' 5 ...

began hosting ''5 Live Sport'' on Friday nights, Marcotti moved to the Sunday night ''

6-0-6 ''606'' (pronounced six-oh-six) is a weekend early evening football phone-in programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the British football season. It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. ...

'' programme. He also appeared in a November edition of the All Out Attack Podcast with Harry De Cosemo. He often appears on the sports betting television station, SportsXchange and is sometimes interviewed on

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...

and BBC's ''

Football Focus ''Football Focus'' is a BBC television magazine programme launched in 1974 covering football, normally broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes during the football season. From the 2009–10 season to the 2020–21 season Football Focus ...

'', particularly when big stories break on Italian football such as the 2006 match-fixing scandal. He has also appeared as a pundit on ITV's UEFA Champions League highlights show, and is a regular guest on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's ''

broadcasts''. In the acknowledgements of ''

How Soccer Explains the World ''How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization'' (also published as ''How Football Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization'') is a book written by American journalist Franklin Foer. It is an analysis of the i ...

'' author

Franklin Foer Franklin Foer (; born July 20, 1974) is a staff writer at ''The Atlantic'' and former editor of ''The New Republic'', commenting on contemporary issues from a liberal perspective. Personal life Foer was born in 1974 to a Jewish family. He is t ...

refers to Marcotti as "my learned soccer guru" and writes that he "...doesn't just know his football, he knows his politics, economics, and culture."

Podcasts

Marcotti took over the job as host of ''

'' podcast '' The Game'' in August 2007, along with

Guillem Balagué Guillem Balagué (born 2 November 1968) is a Spanish football journalist, author, and pundit. He was a regular pundit on Sky Sports' show ''Revista de la Liga'' and has also written for some of Britain's newspapers as well as several Spanish n ...

, replacing Danny Kelly. He had previously been a main contributor to the podcast for 2006–07 season. The following season he remained a prominent contributor to the programme, although

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ...

took over as the host. Midway through the 2009–10 season, Jupitus left the show to concentrate on other work and Marcotti was re-appointed to the role of host. He left his role as presenter on 3 June 2019. Marcotti is now also a regular guest on U.S.-based football show ''Beyond the Pitch'' where he gives regular updates on La Liga, English Premier League along with all the latest transfer news. He is a regular contributor to "Golazzo: The Totally Italian Football Show" for ''

The Totally Football Show ''The Totally Football Show'' presented by James Richardson is a thrice weekly podcast about association football produced by Muddy Knees Media. From June 15, 2020 it was incorporated into and also available via The Athletic. It regularly featu ...

'' with James Richardson and

James Horncastle James Horncastle is an English sportswriter and a broadcaster. Specialising in European and Italian football, Horncastle frequently covers football for BT Sport. Horncastle speaks fluent Italian having formerly lived in Rome. Horncastle starte ...

. In addition to ''The Totally Football Show'', Marcotti is a pundit on several

podcasts. He co-host ''The Gab and Juls'' podcast with French journalist

Julien Laurens Julien Laurens (born 4th October 1980) is a French football journalist and broadcaster based in London. Career Laurens works for the French newspaper Le Parisien, and has featured regularly on BT Sport Talksport and ESPN as well as contributi ...

, and is also a pundit on the ''Serie Awesome'' podcast with English commentator Mina Rzouki and ''The Guardian's'' Nicky Bandini.

Books

Marcotti has written and co-authored a number of books:

Paolo Di Canio Paolo Di Canio (born 9 July 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer and manager. During his playing career he made over 500 league appearances and scored over one hundred goals as a forward. He primarily played as a deep-lying forward ...

's autobiography (1999),Liverani's Lazio gamble
BBC Sport, 29 September 2001 2006's ''The Italian Job: A Journey to the Heart of Two Great Footballing Cultures'' (written in conjunction with

Gianluca Vialli Gianluca Vialli (; born 9 July 1964) is an Italian former football manager and player who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management, punditry and worked previously as a commentator for Sky Sport Italia. He is currentl ...

), ''Capello: Portrait of a Winner'' (2008), an unauthorized biography of former England manager

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career whi ...

, and ''Hail, Claudio!: The Man, the Manager, the Miracle'', a biography of

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri Grande Ufficiale OMRI (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian football manager and former player. He will be the new head coach of club Cagliari from 1 January 2023. Ranieri began his managerial career in the lower leagues in ...

. ''The Italian Job'' was nominated for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. ''Capello: Portrait of a Winner'' was nominated for the National Sporting Club's British Sports Book of the Year award in the Football category.

Personal life

Marcotti is married and has two daughters.

References

External links

Gabriele Marcotti Archive
Sports Illustrated
Gabriele Marcotti Archive
The Times
Gabriele Marcotti Fan Page
Facebook {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcotti, Gabriele Italian male journalists Italian sports journalists Living people 1973 births Journalists from Milan University of Pennsylvania alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni