Pellegrino Matarazzo

Pellegrino Matarazzo (born November 28, 1977) is an Italian-American professional football coach who is currently the head coach of Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart.

Pellegrino Matarazzo
Matarazzo with VfB Stuttgart in January 2020
Personal information
Date of birth (1977-11-28) November 28, 1977
Place of birth Wayne, New Jersey, United States
Height 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 VfB Stuttgart (head coach)
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1999 Columbia Lions
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2001 Eintracht Bad Kreuznach 39 (6)
2001–2003 SV Wehen 58 (0)
2003–2004 Preußen Münster 23 (0)
2004–2005 SV Wehen 18 (1)
2005–2006 SG Wattenscheid 09 31 (1)
2006–2010 1. FC Nürnberg II 62 (1)
Total 231 (9)
Teams managed
2010–2012 1. FC Nürnberg II (assistant)
2011 1. FC Nürnberg II (caretaker)
2012–2013 1. FC Nürnberg U17
2013–2017 1. FC Nürnberg U19
2017 1899 Hoffenheim U17
2018–2019 1899 Hoffenheim (assistant)
2019– VfB Stuttgart
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was previously a youth coach of 1. FC Nürnberg and 1899 Hoffenheim.[1] On December 30, 2019, Matarazzo was appointed head coach of VfB Stuttgart.[2] Since 2000, he has lived in Germany.

Early life

Matarazzo was raised in Fair Lawn, New Jersey to Italian immigrants. He has three younger brothers: Leo, Frank, and Antonio, all of them were in a Napoli fanclub at the time Diego Maradona played there. Leo and Antonio also played at Columbia. He played several sports growing up, including basketball and volleyball due to his height, but saw the most success in football, being a four-year varsity starter for Fair Lawn High School, leading them to the state tournament as a senior for the first time in nearly twenty years. He went on to play at Columbia University, where he earned a degree in applied mathematics in 1999.[3]

Playing career

After his graduation from Columbia, Matarazzo decided to go for a career as a professional football player. After failed trials at Serie B club Salernitana based in his mother's hometown, Salerno, and Serie C club Juve Stabia in Italy, he signed in Germany's fourth division with Eintracht Bad Kreuznach. Between 2001 to 2005, Matarazzo played for Wehen with a year at Münster for the 2003-2004 season, as well as Wattenscheid and Nürnberg. Later, Matarazzo served as assistant coach while playing for the reserve team at the same time.

Coaching career

Matarazzo worked many years at Nürnberg's academy, coaching the B and A juniors. In 2015 Matarazzo started the German coaching training at the Hennes Weisweiler Akademie, where he shared a room with Julian Nagelsmann. Later, Matarazzo joined Nagelsmann's coaching staff at Hoffenheim in 2017, becoming youth coach there. In 2018, Matarazzo became Nagelsmann's assistant and interfaced between the first team and academy, and stayed there with Alfred Schreuder as head coach. In December 2019, Sven Mislintat signed Matarazzo as first team coach of VfB Stuttgart.[4][5][6][7]

Managerial statistics
As of matches played April 30, 2022
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
1. FC Nürnberg II (caretaker) April 12, 2011 June 30, 2011 7 2 3 2 17 14 +3 028.57 [8]
VfB Stuttgart December 30, 2019 present 88 29 23 36 135 134 +1 032.95 [9]
Total 95 31 26 38 152 148 +4 032.63 —

References
  1. "American Exports: Nurnberg U-19s boss Pellegrino Matarazzo working his way up coaching ladder". MLSsoccer.com. Major League Soccer. February 11, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  2. "Pellegrino Matarazzo appointed VfB head coach". vfb.de. VfB Stuttgart. December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  3. Rae, Derek (December 11, 2020). "In Stuttgart's Matarazzo, U.S. soccer already has a coach in charge of one of Europe's great clubs". Columbia Athletics. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  4. Zwischen Italien und USA: Die bewegte Vita des Pellegrino Matarazzo swr.de, 2019-12-30.
  5. []
  6. Farrell, Sean. "A Bergen County native will make soccer history in the German Bundesliga this weekend". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  7. "Matarazzo schwärmt von Nagelsmann: "Ich habe von Julian viel gelernt"". One Football DE (in German). Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  8. "1. FC Nürnberg II: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  9. "VfB Stuttgart: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
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