Max Tonetto (; born 18 November 1974) is a retired Italian

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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. A versatile naturally left-footed player, his preferred position was on the left flank in midfield, although he was often used as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, and could also play as a left wing-back. He played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, most notably Roma, where he won consecutive

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

titles in 2007 and 2008 during his four seasons with the team.

Club career

Tonetto was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

. In 2000, Tonetto's career came to a shift when he moved to

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

, where he became team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, he enjoyed great success at

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side Sampdoria, where he got his first taste of European football in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. After the end of his contract with Sampdoria, he signed a two-year deal with Roma. He has played more than 300 Serie A games. In his first season with Roma he showed good performances as a left-back. Although in his thirties, Tonetto is still, despite injuries, able to produce great and outstanding performances. Tonetto scored his first goal for A.S Roma during a match against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

in the 2007–08 season, by completing

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played solely for AS Roma, Roma and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. He was a technically gifted and creati ...

's pass and scoring a wonderful goal. In November 2007, he signed a new contract with Roma which would last until 30 June 2010. On 11 March 2009, he blasted Roma's eighth and final penalty into the stands in the shootout against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, which meant Roma were knocked out of the Champions League, failing to progress to the quarter finals. His contract with Roma expired 30 June 2010, and he subsequently retired from professional football.

International career

Tonetto won his one and only cap for Italy against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

in a

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

match for

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

Honours

Roma *

: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tonetto, Max 1974 births Living people Footballers from Trieste Men's association football fullbacks Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Alma Juventus Fano 1906 players AC Reggiana 1919 players Ravenna FC players Empoli FC players AC Milan players Bologna FC 1909 players US Lecce players UC Sampdoria players AS Roma players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players