Massimo Oddo is probably one of the best right backs Lazio has ever had. He was good at defending, excellent crosser of the ball, great at free kicks and lethal on penalties. Oddo was one of the few Lazio players to become World Champion while still wearing the Biancoceleste jersey.
He was born in Città Sant’Angelo near Pescara on June 19, 1976. He started his career in the youth teams of his local club, Renato Curi, to then play for the Milan primavera in 1993. After two years he was loaned to a number of teams in Serie C1: Fiorenzuola (1995-96), Monza (1996), Prato (1996-97), Lecco (1997-98). He was back at Monza in 1998-99, again on loan, but this time in Serie B. A year later he signed for Napoli appearing in 45 games with one goal, still in the second tier.
In 2000 he moved to Verona in Serie A and debuted on September 30 against Bari. He did very well in his two years in Veneto and attracted the attention of Lazio and Roberto Mancini.
He joined the Biancocelesti in 2002 and stayed for four and a half years with 172 appearances and 17 goals. With Lazio he won a Coppa Italia in 2003-04 and when Fabio Liverani left in 2005, he became captain.
His dream was to go back to AC Milan and in January 2007 Lazio sold him in exchange for €7.75 million plus Pasquale Foggia. On May 23 he played the final of the Champions League which saw Milan beat Liverpool 2-1. Milan then went on to win the Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, the former Intercontinental Cup.
In August 2008 he joined Bayern Munich on loan with an option to buy but he went back to Milan a year later. In 2010-11 the Rossoneri won the scudetto and in August the Super Coppa but Oddo did not play. Later in the month he signed for Lecce on loan and played his last year in active football.
Oddo has 34 caps with Italy with one goal. On the eve of the 2006 World Cup, it looked as if he was going to be the first choice right back for Italy. But for the first few games Cristian Zaccardo was chosen instead (a strange coincidence was that just before the World Cup, Zaccardo changed agent and chose Italy Manager Marcello Lippi’s son as his new representative) and then Gianluca Zambrotta was moved to right back and Fabio Grosso came in as left back. Oddo however came on as substitute in the quarterfinal game against Ukraine. Italy won the World Cup and Oddo, together with Angelo Peruzzi, were Lazio’s World Champions. Interestingly enough Oddo played 10 out 12 Euro 2008 games after that Italian win …
After he quit active football Oddo became a manager and in May 2015 took over from Marco Baroni at Pescara. Massimo’s father had also been manager of Pescara from 1994 to 1996 and this was the first time in Italian football that father and son had managed the same team. He reached the final of the promotion playoff but Serie A was not meant to be at least that year. In 2016 however, by beating Novara in the final, Pescara were promoted to Serie A. He was sacked in February 2017 with Pescara last.
In November 2017 he replaced Luigi Delneri as head coach of Udinese, He initially did well with a run of five consecutive wins. But between February and April, the Bianconeri lost 11 consecutive times and Oddo was fired.
In October 2018 he was chosen as manager for Crotone in Serie B, but the job lasted only until December. In 2019 he became head coach at Perugia but was replaced in January. He returned in July but could not avoid relegation. He then returned to Pescara but was sacked in November 2020.
Unemployed, at least as a manager, he started doing punditry for Canale 5 and Amazon Prime. In February 2022 he was chosen as head coach at Padova in Serie C taking the club to the playoff for promotion, unfortunately lost to Palermo. At the end of the season, he returned to Amazon Prime. In February 2023 he substituted Daniele De Rossi as manager for Spal who were in serious trouble in Serie B. He however could do much to avoid relegation. In April 2024 he was chosen as head coach for Padova in Serie C. The club finished second and was eliminated in the play-offs by Vicenza.
Massimo Oddo was a really good player and probably among the best right backs of his generation. As a manager he certainly has not been lucky so far, but he is good, he only needs a decent team to coach. At Lazio he is always remembered with affection. “With Milan I won everything, but the tie with Lazio is much stronger. I was one of the last players of the Cragnotti era. I played with players such as Nesta, Crespo, Stam, Favalli, Stankovic. Then we found ourselves fighting to avoid relegation, regained status and the year I left Lazio went into Champions League. I feel that qualification as mine since I contributed six goals and numerous assists, but more than numbers I was part of the great Lazio, the downsized Lazio and the revival of the team”, he said in a recent interview.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | UEFA Cup | Super Coppa |
2002-03 | 31 | 19 | 5 | - | 7 | - |
2003-04 | 44 (1) | 31 (1) | 7 | 6 | - | - |
2004-05 | 42 (4) | 35 (4) | 1 | - | 5 | 1 |
2005-06 | 38 (7) | 35 (7) | 3 | - | - | - |
2006-Jan 2007 | 17 (5) | 15 (5) | 2 | - | - | - |
Total | 172 (17) | 135 (17) | 18 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
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