Pellegrino Matarazzo

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
Team information
Current team	1899 Hoffenheim (manager)
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)
Managerial career
2011	1. FC Nürnberg II (caretaker)
2019–2022	VfB Stuttgart
2023–	1899 Hoffenheim
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Pellegrino Matarazzo (born November 28, 1977) is an American professional soccer coach, who currently manages TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

He was previously a youth coach of 1. FC Nürnberg and 1899 Hoffenheim. In December 2019, Matarazzo was appointed head coach of VfB Stuttgart. He has lived in Germany since 2000.

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 soccer, 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.

Playing career

After his graduation from Columbia, Matarazzo decided to go for a career as a professional soccer 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. He was sacked in October 2022.

On 8 February 2023, Matarazzo returned to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, but this time as manager of the first team, he signed a contract until June 2025; he replaced the sacked André Breitenreiter.

Managerial statistics

As of matches played October 9, 2022

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	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
VfB Stuttgart	December 30, 2019	October 10, 2022	100	31	29	40	149	151	−2	031.00
1899 Hoffenheim	February 8, 2023	Present	0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
Total			107	33	32	42	166	165	+1	030.84	—

External links

• Pellegrino Matarazzo at WorldFootball.net
• Pellegrino Matarazzo at kicker (in German)
• Pellegrino Matarazzo at the German Football Association