Alessandro Nesta was born on March 19, 1976 in Rome. He made his way in the Lazio youth teams and it was with the Biancocelesti that he rose to stardom, becoming captain and icon of the Roman outfit. He won seven trophies with Lazio, including the Scudetto in 2000, a Cup Winners’ Cup and a European Super Cup both in 1999, as well as two Coppa Italia (’98 and 2000) and two Italian Super Cups (1998 and 2000). He left Lazio for AC Milan in 2002 where he won ten more titles and climbed to the top of Europe, and the world: he won two Champions Leagues, in ’03 and ’07, and a Club World Cup in 2007. He also won two Scudetto titles with the Rossoneri, in ’04 and ’11. Then in 2012 he moved to Canada where he played for one season with the Montreal Impact before hanging up his boots. However, in November 2014 he returned to the game, playing in the Indian League with Chennaiyin; this was a brief spell after which he retired from the game for good. In February 2014, he joined the Montreal Impact coaching staff before accepting the Miami franchise’s call in the summer of 2015. He left Florida at the end of 2017 and returned to Italy where, from May 2018, he coached Perugia before moving to Frosinone the following summer.

Nesta’s adventure with the Azzurri began with success in the 1996 U21 European Championship. It was in that same year that he made his debut for the Azzurri senior team, on 5 October in the 1998 World Cup qualifier that Italy won 3-1 against Moldova in Chisinau. He took part in two European Championships and three World Cup tournaments, winning in Germany ’06 under Marcello Lippi’s leadership, although he only played in three matches in the knockout rounds before being put out of action by injury. Nesta ended his National Team career on 11 October 2006 in a 3-1 win against Georgia in Euro 2008 qualifying. Overall, he made 78 appearances for the Azzurri.