There is a moment, about halfway through a long conversation about an extraordinary journey from New Jersey to Seville, when Pellegrino Matarazzo stops mid-sentence. “I keep using that word: ‘special’. I’m realising now that my English is terrible,” Real Sociedad’s coach says.
So much so that when it finally comes to an end, after he has moved from management and mathematics to music – to OK Computer and Nino D’Angelo, tapes in the old Chevy and all-night sessions on guitar and baglama – he has a suggestion. Laughing now, about to bid farewell, he says: “Feel free to replace any words I used over 10 times. So: ‘special’…”
Let the record show that “special” appears in the transcript 11 times. Only “solution” comes close, which fits. But 11 doesn’t seem excessive among thousands of words more and, besides, this is special. Matarazzo, whose first language was Italian at home and English outside it but says German overtook both and is now learning Spanish and bits of Basque, rightly applies it to “club”, “culture”, “ethics”, “people” and “region”, the “moment” The Royal are in. But it applies to him too: the admiration and affection is mutual. “You have been Matarazzed,” as fans at Anoeta like to say.
This is the story of the Italian-American who earned a degree in applied mathematics from Columbia University but just wanted to play football. The Napoli fan who watched Diego Maradona from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, tried out at Italian fourth-tier club Nocerina and became a midfielder in German regional football. The coach who brought Stuttgart back to the Bundesliga and Hoffenheim back to Europe. The manager who, after a year out, arrived at relegation-threatened Real Sociedad in December, pulled them to safety and the edge of a Champions League place, while leading them to Copa del Rey final against Atlético Madrid in Seville.
“For everyone here, it’s a very special moment. The chance to win a title, be at a final, isn’t something you experience every day and the entire city is excited,” Matarazzo says. La Real are 90 minutes from only the fourth cup in their history. When they last won it, against Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao, the pandemic put the final on hold for an entire year, two unique clubs not wanting to play without their communities, but still the fans couldn’t go. For supporters, then, this is a first final in 39 years. For their 48-year-old manager, it is a first ever.
“In my youth in the United States, there were many but it’s not comparable,” he says. For the son of Neapolitan émigrés, the kid who went to see Italy against Nigeria at USA 94 in the back of a van, football always came first, if not always alone. After all, not just anyone graduates from Columbia but fewer still then turn their back on the rewards it can bring. But it was the game that gripped him, where his convictions lay.
“With the degree, investment banking was the logical step in New York and I thought: ‘Well, OK … if football doesn’t work out,’” he says. “An agent promised me trials at [Italian club] Salernitana but they never happened. I went overseas and spent three months waiting, doing interval running through the streets and the hazelnut orchard where my grandparents lived in a town called Ospedaletto d’Alpinolo. I would run up the Montevergine mountain: at the top is the church where I got married. The last day of the market I finally got a trial with Nocerina, but the coach couldn’t judge me on one day.
“I went back to the US, then Germany opened the doors. As a player I was somewhat wooden. Maybe I didn’t have the capacity to see everything. And my offensive, bold impulses were too strong to put me into a structure.”
Maybe, but there was something there: a vision, intelligence, ambition, determination. Matarazzo played in Germany’s third and fourth tiers at Eintracht Bad Kreuznach, SV Wehen Wiesbaden, Preussen Münster and SG Wattenscheid. Doing coaching badges while at Nuremberg’s second team was the beginning of something. “There was a fork in the road after my playing career – my ‘playing career’, ha ha! – where I said: ‘I’ll probably go back to the US,’ maybe to a city firm. I was 27, 28, and my path wasn’t clear. But I thought I’ll keep going until I stop progressing,” Matarazzo says, and he never did stop. “At the time not many foreigners got places on coaching courses. I was declined the first time but I knew what I was doing was good so I kept pushing.”
He did his pro licences with Julian Nagelsmann, now Germany’s head coach, got the Stuttgart job in 2019 and between 2023 and 2024 led Hoffenheim. Does Italy’s failure to reach three consecutive World Cups suggest a deep problem? “I grew up deeply connected to the blue team. I was 12 when Italy lost on penalties to Argentina in the 1990 World Cup and I remember crying. I was at the quarter-final against Nigeria in the US in 1994, with the Roberto Baggio winner; we went to four or five games, and that made soccer real to us in the US. It was an unbelievable experience to watch my idols like Roberto Baggio, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Donadoni play live in Foxborough and at the Giants Stadium. So, to see them fail to qualify for multiple World Cups is more than just disappointing; it’s painful for an entire country with such a rich football history,” Matarazzo says.
“It is important not just to react emotionally but use this moment as a catalyst for change and to rethink the system. I hope it leads to thinking outside the box, investing in the long-term success and sustainability. I witnessed first-hand a transformation in German football in the early 2000s and they found solutions: a system-wide reform where they made youth academies mandatary, created regional training centres, focused on educating technical, creative players, not just physical, disciplined ones. It was a long-term philosophy, not just an emotional reaction, and it paid off.
“And on a personal level,” Matarazzo says, coming back to where he was forced to leave. “I’m very grateful for my coaching education in Germany, and to two great clubs: great experiences, fascinating people. But I wanted to open the horizon, set new boundaries. La Real were top of my list. My first conversations with La Real were in the fall [of 2025]and it was clear we shared values and ideas. Working in La Liga, a new culture and football, was attractive. La Real was the perfect fit. With the players they had, I could see the potential to grow.”
How they have grown. The impact was immediate, Real Sociedad revived. They had just 17 points in 17 games and lay two from relegation. Now they are within reach of a Champions League place and feature in a cup final, having defeated Athletic en route.
Athletic had certainly been “Matarazzed”, like Barcelona before them. Now for another opponent, another manager, he admires. “Atlético are a fantastic club with great players, a team with a certain fluidity which makes them difficult to press. It’s difficult to define their structures. Or, if they are definable, they’re not easy to communicate to players without overloading them. We need to find solutions,” he says. “I’ve followed [manager Diego] Simeone as a human being, a character, a personality. I was intrigued by the emotions, the authenticity of his being. That inspires me.
“There is not a lot of politics here. There’s a tight structure that allows you to make concise, impactful decisions fast. In the first phase, I’m gathering a lot of information, communicating. You look, think: ‘How do I put this puzzle together?’ Before I start to move, I make sure it’s in the right direction and then the intensity of direction is important. I’m happy with how efficient we have been.
“A lot of who I am is about being concise, impactful. I don’t like waste. Every moment, every word, every training session is important. It’s important to be constructive, open, to understand.”
Then, Matarazzo says, there is the culture with which he has become enamoured. “If you want to understand a club you need to understand the people. You learn about people when you’re open to conversation, immerse yourself in their culture. The Basque region is so special; even though they don’t know where they come from, they’re rooted: they have a strong sense of who they are, a unity, culture and language.
“They are strong, intelligent people, grounded. They have many, many values I can 100% identify with. One of the strengths of this team is the leaders. Look at Mikel Oyarzabal: our captain, playing for the Spanish national team, amazing player but … hard working. He leads by example in everything he does and that’s the people in the city.
“I adapt to the people, the region, the identity of the club. In the Bundesliga I was ‘the mathematician’, a tactician; in Spain I’ve been seen more as an emotional coach, giving positive energy. I would say one of my biggest strengths is that ability to adapt. Don’t put me in a box.”
“If you speak different languages, you’re open to different ways of thought. Words are thought. Immersing yourself, being open, matters. It’s also a reason why a lot of fans show an appreciation for me: they feel my willingness to connect to their culture and history. You come to contribute.
“What we experience in football; nothing can replace that. The intensity and the emotion of every moment is unbelievable. To celebrate victories and be part of a group with one direction, one goal, is something very, very special.”
