Luca Di Matteo (born 25 February 1988) is an Italian footballer who plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Di Matteo started his career with

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated ci ...

, establishing himself as a player with good potential despite his young age. On January 31, 2008 Palermo signed Di Matteo from then

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978 ...

club Pescara, together with teammate

Edgar Çani Edgar Junior Çani (born 22 July 1989) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Legnano. Club career Early career Çani was born in Tirana, Albania but grew up in Città della Pieve in the Perugia central Italy, after ...

in co-ownership deal for €500,000 and €600,000 respectively. In June 2008 Pescara made a discount on both players, which both were sold for €450,000. He made his

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 Copp ...

debut on 27 April 2008 in a 0–0 home tie against

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

. Di Matteo was confirmed as part of the Palermo first team squad for the 2008–09 season, but was never featured on the patch and he was successively loaned out to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

outfit

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

on February 2, 2009 for the remainder of the season. He spent the first half of the 2009–10 season on loan to

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages unti ...

. In February 2010, Di Matteo agreed to leave Crotone and join

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the '' Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a t ...

, this time in a co-ownership bid between Palermo and his new club, for a peppercorn fee of €500.Vicenza Calcio Report and Accounts on 30 June 2011 Di Matteo made his second comeback to Palermo in June 2011, as his co-ownership was solved in favour of the ''rosanero'' for €200,000. In return

Nicola Rigoni Nicola Rigoni (born 12 November 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Club career Vicenza A promising midfielder, and younger brother of Serie A footballer Luca Rigoni, he made his professional debut in the f ...

was sold back to Vicenza also for €200,000. After failing to make a single appearance with Palermo, he was loaned out to

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the provinc ...

on 31 January 2012. He then returned to Vicenza in August 2012 after being deemed as surplus to requirements from Palermo, and played one season in Serie B and the first half of the 2013–14 season in the

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978 ...

. In January 2014, he left Vicenza for Serie B club

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, amassing only a total eight appearances for the club, and suffering a second consecutive relegation. He successively found himself without a club after Padova was excluded from the Italian league system due to financial issues. On 12 July 2019 he returned to

Teramo Teramo (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Tèreme ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo. The city, from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines ( Gran Sasso d'Italia ...

, signing a 2-year contract.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Matteo, Luca 1988 births Living people Italian men's footballers Delfino Pescara 1936 players Palermo FC players AS Cittadella players FC Crotone players LR Vicenza players US Lecce players Calcio Padova players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players SSD Città di Teramo players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Pescara