Massimo Oddo’s destiny was probably written all over his DNA. During his childhood, in his family, he has always been raised in a football-filled atmosphere, as his father Francesco was a good left wing and later an important trainer who worked in Serie A and Serie B.

“RENATO CURI”, THE FIRST TEAM.
Massimo started playing organized football in the “Renato Curi”, a real talent farm (under vigilant scrutiny of Eraldo Mansueti and Cetteo Di Mascio) that turned out to be a launch pad for many Abruzzese youngsters that were able to affirm themselves in professional football, amongst others Grosso, Falcone and D’Aversa.
Oddo was part of the Renato Curi team that won the national Under16 title. After collecting 3 appearances with the senior team, at 17 Oddo was acquired by AC Milan. 

BEGINNING OF A DREAM: AC MILAN.
Thanks also to the support from his family, Massimo moved to Milanello during summer of 1993, playing for AC Milan “Primavera” junior team and learning a lot from affirmed champions such as Van Basten, Gullit, Baresi, Maldini that at the time were writing football history under the guidance of Arrigo Sacchi and later Fabio Capello (which, together with Maurizio Viscidi was one of Massimo’s first trainers at AC Milan junior teams).
The opportunity to absorb various lessons and receive invaluable advices from such stars helped Massimo getting selected for the national Under 19 team.
Massimo still has lots of fond memories from that times, amongst them of the countless times he and his “Primavera” teammates were helping the great Marco Van Basten during his painful rehabilitation process, working together on technical and physical exercices.

FROM AC MILAN TO FIORENZUOLA.
That AC Milan Primavera team was made up by players that grew up to establish themselves as professional players, the most famous being Coco, D’Aversa, Saudati, Moro and Brocchi. Oddo owes Fabio Capello his first opportunity to play with the senior team, even if it was just during a friendly.
The chance to show what he could do in professional football came for Massimo in the 1995 summer, as Fiorenzuola, fresh of coming really close to a promotion to Serie B, made him part of their plan to improve their chances at a promotion. The coach there was Giancarlo d’Astoli, who was fired during the season and replaced by Ugo Tomeazzi. Oddo & Co. came to a whisper from qualifying for the playoff, as they were out only after taking the tie-breakers into account. Clearly a big disappointment for the team, personally mitigated by the opportunity to keep playing in Serie C1 the following season, for the ambitious and just relegated Monza of Giorgio Rumignani.

MONZA, PRATO AND THEN LECCO (AND AN AZZURRI DIGRESSION).
Even if Massimo had no problem acclimatizing himself at Monza, is stay there was short-lived as there were simply no space for him. In November 1996 then Massimo left Lombardy fro Tuscany, going to Prato. Here he could work with Giorgio Veneri and later with Vincenzo Esposito, unfortunately without great results.
For the 1997/1998 season Massimo is back in Lombardy, at Lecco (still in Serie C1). The ensuing season was especially brilliant for him, marking the turning point on his career everybody had been waiting for. After some initial struggles, coach Adriano Cadregari decided to bet on him as a central defender, and even if playing at an atypical position (he had always been a rightback), Massimo played at an exceptional level for the season, even scoring his first official goal.
In the meantime, before of the start of the season at Lecco, Oddo had the honour of being again part of a national selection, this time the University selection (of trainer Paolo Berrettini) that was crowned World Champion during the Universiade in Sicily. His stocks were clearly rising, as demonstrated by the interest showed toward him by Newcastle’s manager Kenny Daglish, that arranged to invite him for a days long stage. Eventually a mixture of homesickness and desire to make a name for himself in Italy led him to the decision to come back.
After the good season at Lecco AC Milan, still holder of his rights, decided to move him on loan again to Monza, but this time in Serie B.

DEBUT IN SERIE B.
Playing in the team from Brianza, coached by Pierluigi Frosio, Massimo not only got the chance to make is debut in Serie B, he could also shine as a free-kick sharpshooter, counting 4 goals at the end of the 1998/1999 season, some of them rather spectacular and made even more precious by the recognised value of the beaten goalkeepers such as Lorieri and Mondini. All of this led to Massimo landing in an important club on a prestigious stage: Napoli.

A GREAT SEASON UNDER THE VESUVIUS.
Napoli was aiming to get promoted back to Serie A, after a bitter relegation and a disappointing campaign in Serie B, and showed a lot of confidence in Massimo acquiring him in co-ownership from AC Milan.
Outstanding support from the home crowd, great environment, and good teammates (amongst others Schwoch, Stellone, Bellucci, Matuzalem and Coppola) were not enough to avoid some initial struggles. After a while, under the wise guidance of Walter Novellino, everything started clicking so well that, after two years in the second division, Napoli went back to Serie A. There was almost no time for celebration for Massimo, as he was embittered to discover that he had to leave the city, although against his will. His departure was also accompanied by unnecessary controversies started by the new Napoli ownership, once Massimo was already gone. At least his bitterness was sweetened by the news that he was moving to another great club and city: Hellas Verona.

SERIE A AT LEAST!
There is not a lot of confidence on Hellas Verona in the experts’ season previews, even though the roster is filled with a lot of promising young players (Oddo is joined by Bonazzoli, Gilardino, Mutu, Camoranesi and Frey). The most common assessment puts Verona in a group of “potential outsider”. Thanks also to the steady leadership of trainer Attilio Perotti, the team performed at a high level, way over the expectations. Relegation was avoided just in extremis, defeating Reggina in a tiebreaker postseason match, but the team obtained some confidence building results in beating Lazio Rome and stopping AC Milan and Inter Milan. On a personal note, Massimo scored his first Serie A goals converting all 4 of his penalties, including one against eventual champions AS Rome.
The following season, even though the core of the roster remained unchanged, Hellas Verona could not avoid relegation. Over the course of a bizarre season that started with the addition of some quality players to the roster and the arrival of trainer Alberto Malesani at the helm, the yellow-and-blue found themselves challenging for a place in the UEFA Cup at half season before a dramatic downfall to relegation. Oddo improved his personal best score to 5 goals!

RIGHT AT THE TOP: LAZIO AND NATIONAL TEAM.
After two good Serie A seasons, scoring 9 goals in 64 appearances, Massimo Oddo moved to Lazio Rome in summer 2002. Overall he played 4½ years with the white-light blue uniforms in Italy’s capital. Over his time at President Claudio Lotito’s club, Massimo completely came into his own, both as a player and as a man. He got married to Claudia, and became father of first-born son Davide. On the pitch, he inherited the captain armband from Alessandro Nesta, and even more important he had the opportunity to showcase his skills in front of a vaste, competent audience, hence leading to his first appearance with the senior national team on August 21st 2002 in a 1-0 loss against Slovenia.
His personal score with Lazio Rome reads 17 goals in 135 matches, a Coppa Italia victory and the debut on European competition, UEFA Cup at first and then the most prestigious Champion’s League. In the Eternal City he had the chance to play for such important trainers as Roberto Mancini and Delio Rossi, as well as Domenico Caso and Giuseppe Papadopulo.
Massimo’s style of play was in full display at Lazio, showing the mixture of impressive defensive skills and uncanny running ability that allows him to be a right-back at ease both on defending and attacking. His effectiveness as a crosser created many scoring opportunities for his teammates; not to forget his knack for scoring on penalties.

WORLD CHAMPION!
At the end of the 2005/2006 season, culminated in a sixth place, Lazio was one of the team involved in the so-called “Calciopoli” Italian football scandal. The insuing point deduction prevented Lazio from qualifying to European competitions for the following season.
On a personal note, Massimo was selected by national trainer Marcello Lippi  to be one of the 23 Azzurri at the 2006 World cup in Germany.
Italy marched on to win the World Cup for the fourth time in its history, second overall behind five-time champion Brasil, after defeating France on penalties  in the final.
Massimo did not rack up a lot of minutes of play, mainly due to the amazing state of shape of his fellow citizen Fabio Grosso and Gianluca Zambrotta. At the end there was only one appearance for him, against Ukraine in the quarter final. But no one can deny the invaluable worthiness of the locker-room support that Massimo (and the other less employed players)gave to their teammates all the way to the triumph in Berlin on July 9th 2006. An Historical day indeed!
Lots of celebration were organized all over the country for the homecoming from Germany of the 23 heroes, probably the most touching for Massimo being the sea of fans (a crowd of almost 50.000 people) reunited in Pescara to celebrate the two local Azzurri, Massimo Oddo and Fabio Grosso, on the summer night of August 2nd 2006.

HOMECOMING
Massimo was back at Lazio Rome (as a World Champion!) for the 2006/2007 season. In spite of all the consequences of the football scandals (point deduction from previous season’s total, leading to a missed qualification to European competition, plus point penalization on the starting season), Massimo took the team under his wings and led it out of the lower part of the standing.
When the transfer window opened again in January, a unique opportunity presented itself: going back to AC Milan, where it all began for Massimo. After a full month of excruciating negotiation, at the end of January the homecoming was made official: Massimo was back with the Rossoneri! That meant not only a daily chance to pace himself with some of the best footballer of the planet (Kakà, Ronaldo, Maldini, Inzaghi, etc, etc …); even better was the chance to star in a competitive club challenging to win the Champion’s League.
Carlo Ancelotti’s AC Milan went on to win the prestigious trophy defeating Liverpool in Athens, capping a magical season for Massimo that kept winning the sport’s most coveted trophies and cups.
Right at the start of the new season there was already the chance to add another one of them, as AC Milan defeated Seville in Montecarlo to claim the UEFA Super Cup in a night rendered surreal by the sudden death of Spanish defender Antonio Puerta only a few days earlier.
In December then AC Milan flew to Japan to take part to the FIFA Club World Cup, the new FIFA tournament where the champion clubs from every continent faced each other.
Defeating 1-0 the home team Urawa Red Diamonds in the semifinal led the Italian club to the final showdown against Boca Juniors from Argentina. Another victory, 4-2 the final score, and another trophy for Massimo!
Also due to the wear and tear from all of its international appointments, AC Milan could not finish better then in fifth place in Serie A, therefore qualifying to the UEFA Cup but missing qualification to the Champion’s League.
The club than targeted Zambrotta as a transfer reinforcement from Barcelona. For Massimo, that would have meant sharing playing time with the newcomer on the right-back position. After a frankly dialogue with the management, Massimo was happy to catch the opportunity for an experience outside Italy in accepting his move to join fellow countryman Luca Toni at Bayern Munich.

OUTSIDE ITALY: BAYERN MUNICH
While adjusting to life in Bavaria, the Oddo family welcomes to the world the second son, Davide. Massimo is now on loan at Bayern, a prestigious club run by ex Inter Milan striker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and led on the pitch by trainer (and fellow ex Inter Milan striker) Juergen Klinsmann. With the Bavarians Massimo is competing on one important stage, the German league (aka Bundesliga) although his team has been eliminated from  Champion’s League by Leo Messi’s Barcelona F.C., alongside such affirmed champions as Franck Ribéry, Miroslav Klose, Lucas Podolski, Lucio e Bastian Schweinsteiger.