Matteo Contini (born 16 April 1980) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player. He played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

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 ...

. He is currently in charge as head coach of club Legnago Salus.

Playing career

AC Milan

Contini started his professional career in the

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

youth system. He was then farmed to

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

1 teams

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

(loan),

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

(loan),

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

(co-ownership) and

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

(co-ownership) between 1999 and 2003 and Serie B team

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

in 2003–04 Serie B season.

Parma

Contini's 50% registration rights was bought by

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

in 2004 for €180,000 fee that became full ownership in 2005 for an additional fee of €400,000. He played for Parma in the

2004–05 UEFA Cup The 2004–05 UEFA Cup was the 34th edition of the UEFA Cup. The format of the competition had changed from previous seasons, replacing that from the previous one after the abolition of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999; an extra qualifying round was ...

and the

2006–07 UEFA Cup The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club association football, football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla FC, Sevilla won their second consecu ...

Napoli

In 2007, Contini was signed by

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

for €3.2 million. He played for Napoli in Serie A as well as in the Italian Cup,

2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the last UEFA Intertoto Cup football tournament, the 14th to be organised by UEFA and the third since the competition's format was given a major overhaul. Fifty teams were invited, with the eleven winners after the ...

and

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup association football, football tournament. The 2009 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe S.K. (football), F ...

Zaragoza

On 27 January 2010 Contini was loaned to

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

with option to purchase. On 8 July 2010,

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

made the purchase option, for €2 million and signed Contini on a three-year deal.

Siena

On 8 August 2011, after a year and a half in Spain, Contini returned to Italy, taken from

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

on a season-long loan for €300,000AC Siena SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2012 (in Italian) with option to buy the registration rights. He wore number 80 shirt for

2011–12 Serie A The 2011–12 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM after its headline sponsors) was the 110th season of top-tier Italian football, the 80th in a round-robin tournament, and the second since its organization under a league committee separate from S ...

. In July 2012, Contini signed a permanent deal with Siena, which the club declared the total cost including misc cost was €1,374,239. He signed a two-year contract. Contini changed to wear number 22 in

2012–13 Serie A The 2012–13 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 111th season of top-tier Italian football, the 81st in a round-robin tournament, and the 3rd since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

Atalanta

Six months after joining Siena definitively, Contini joined

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 ...

for €1 million in an initial -year contract. Contini kept to use number 22 shirt for "blue-black". On 30 August 2013, he went on loan to

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian professional football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football system, following their promotion ahead of the 2024–25 seas ...

. In the next three seasons, he was loaned to Bari (twice) and

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria and currently compete in the Serie C. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A ...

. He retired in 2018 after a season with

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

amateurs Pergolettese.

Coaching career

After retirement, he stayed at Pergolettese as a youth coach. On 6 November 2018, he was promoted to head coach of the Serie D club and guided his club to promotion to Serie C by the end of the season. He was dismissed on 12 November 2019 after the club started their Serie C season with five draws and nine losses in the first 14 games. He was re-hired by Pergolettese on 19 June 2020. He resigned from Pergolettese on 15 November 2020. On 11 November 2021, he was hired by

club

Giana Erminio Associazione Sportiva Giana Erminio S.r.l. is an Italian football club based in Gorgonzola, Lombardy. The team currently plays in Italy's . History The club was founded in 1909 as ''Unione Sportiva Argentia'', and later adopted the current name ...

. After suffering relegation to Serie D following a 2–4 aggregate loss

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin language, Ladin and ; ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige, Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the Trentino, autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ...

in the playoffs, on 27 May 2022 Giana Erminio announced Contini's departure from the club. On 27 September 2024, Contini returned to management as the new head coach of struggling

club Legnago Salus.

References

External links

Lega Serie A profile

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Contini, Matteo Living people 1980 births Italian men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Varese Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players AC Milan players US Livorno 1915 players SPAL players US Avellino 1912 players AC Monza players L'Aquila 1927 players Parma Calcio 1913 players SSC Napoli players Real Zaragoza players Siena FC SSD players Atalanta BC players SS Juve Stabia players SSC Bari players Ternana Calcio players US Pergolettese 1932 players Italian football managers Serie C managers Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain 21st-century Italian sportsmen