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 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 ...

Career

Di Matteo started his career with

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

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

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

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 Italian Serie D club Crema. Club career Early career Çani was born in Tirana, Albania but grew up in Città della Pieve in the Perugia ...

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 (), 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 ...

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

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) 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), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. 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 (), officially known as 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 b ...

outfit

Cittadella Cittadella () 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 . There are fo ...

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 (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

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

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) 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 Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, 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 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 (; ) 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 ...

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 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

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

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

, 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 (; ) 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) and the Adriatic coast. Th ...

, 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 21st-century Italian sportsmen