Roberto Di Maio (born 21 September 1982) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Born in Italy, he played for the San Marino national team. Di Maio became the oldest player to make his senior international debut in

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

competition, aged 40 years and 193 days, in a Euro 2024 qualifier match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in March 2023.

Club career

On 30 August 2010, Di Maio joined Nocerina for an undisclosed fee. On 12 August 2013, he left

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 ...

for

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 ...

. On 5 June 2024, at almost age of 42, he announced his retirement from the pitch, aiming to a training career.

International career

Di Maio was born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy, but had indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for

San Marino national football team The San Marino national football team () represents San Marino in men's international association football competitions. The team is governed by the San Marino Football Federation and represents the smallest population of any UEFA member. They ...

if asked. He would eventually earn his first international cap for San Marino on 23 March 2023 in a

Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by U ...

qualifier against

, at the age of 40, after waiting the prerequisite 15 years for naturalized citizens who cannot claim ancestral roots to be eligible for ''La Serenissima''. Di Maio had begun the naturalization process during his first stint with

San Marino Calcio Associazione Camachista San Marino Calcio, better known as San Marino Calcio, is a Sammarinese professional football club based in the city of Acquaviva, that competes in the Serie D, the fourth tier of Italian football, since being promoted i ...

. His first cap made him the oldest person to make his senior debut in

competition.

Personal life

De Maio married his wife, Cristina, in 2012, and after ten years of marriage qualified for Sammarinese citizenship. He works as an academy coach for the

San Marino Football Federation The San Marino Football Federation (FSGC; ) is the governing body of football in San Marino. It organizes the San Marino football league ( Campionato Sammarinese), a national cup ( Coppa Titano), a super cup ( Trofeo Federale) and the San Mari ...

, coaching the country's Under-17s team.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * 1982 births Living people Footballers from Naples Sammarinese men's footballers San Marino men's international footballers Italian men's footballers Italian emigrants to San Marino Men's association football defenders Serie B players Serie C players San Marino Calcio players US Catanzaro 1929 players ASG Nocerina players US Lecce players L'Aquila 1927 players SEF Torres 1903 players Rimini FC 1912 players AS Gubbio 1910 players S.S. Cosmos players SP La Fiorita players Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio players Italian expatriate sportspeople in San Marino Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in San Marino Sammarinese people of Italian descent Naturalised citizens of San Marino 21st-century Italian sportsmen {{SanMarino-footy-bio-stub