VfB Stuttgart: Trainer Pellegrino Matarazzo wants to use his math degree to make the ascent

Pellegrino Matarazzo has been a coach at VfB Stuttgart since the end of 2019. The coach intends to use his math degree to lead the football club to promotion.

• The new VfB Stuttgart coach (BW24 * reported) was a surprising choice for soccer experts
• Pellegrino Matarazzo has never been a professional footballer and is a graduate mathematician
• The new VfB coach now wants to help the football club to advance with math knowledge

Stuttgart - The new coach of VfB Stuttgart Pellegrino Matarazzo is extraordinary in many ways, as was recently seen at BW24 *: he never played as a professional footballer . And not only that: The native American with Italian roots also had a very specific profession before becoming a football coach: Pellegrino Matarazzo studied at an elite university in the US mathematics . But his passion was football.

Pellegrino Matarazzo, who followed the dismissed coach Tim Walter (* BW24 reported) at VfB, successfully completed his studies. Nevertheless, he chose football as a profession. "I had a couple of buddies sleeping in the office. I knew I didn't want to - at least not right away, ”Matarazzo was later to say at a VfB Stuttgart press conference .

VfB Stuttgart: Coach Pellegrino Matarazzo gave up his career as a mathematician for football

In 2000 Pellegrino Matarazzo emigrated to Germany for his dream of a football career , playing there as an amateur in the regional league. He later coached the youth teams of 1. FC Nürnberg, among others. In 2017 Pellegrino Matarazzo started as assistant coach at the Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim . Now the career jump followed: As the new VfB coach , Pellegrino Matarazzo should lead the former German champion to promotion .

VfB Stuttgart: Coach Pellegrino Matarazzo should lead the football club to promotion to the 1st Bundesliga

© Tom Weller / dpa

His mathematics studies should not have been in vain despite a new professional orientation. This is how Pellegrino Matarazzo wants to contribute his knowledge as a trainer to VfB Stuttgart : The coach describes his coaching style as meticulous, structured and solution-oriented . This stuck from his math degree at Ivy League University Columbia in New York, said Pellegrino Matarazzo. Does he now calculate the formula for Bundesliga success ?

As a coach, Pellegrino Matarazzo wants to radiate dominance with VfB Stuttgart

The new VfB trainer is, according to his own statement, an "optimistic realist", he leads his team critically, honestly and communicatively. "I'm not thinking about what can go wrong, but what we can achieve together," said Pellegrino Matarazzo at his presentation in Stuttgart . In addition, the VfB coach takes on an offensive style of play: "I want to exude dominance."

At theVfB Stuttgart is facing a difficult task for Pellegrino Matarazzo: He is to lead the football club out of the crisis - and by the end of the season in first or second place in the 2nd Bundesliga . The new VfB coach knows that he is under a lot of pressure. Pellegrino Matarazzo was not deterred by the fact that VfB wears out a particularly large number of coaches .

Check out this post on Instagram

Pellegrino Matarazzo is the new VfB head coach. The 42-year-old changes from TSG Hoffenheim to VfB. Welcome, Pellegrino Matarazzo! #VfB #cheftrainer #matarazzo #vfbstuttgart # vfbstuttgart1893 #VfBInsta #welcome

A post shared by VfB Stuttgart (@vfb) on Dec 30, 2019 at 2:06 am PST

VfB Stuttgart coach: Sports director Thomas Hitzlsperger takes a risk with Pellegrino Matarazzo

Before Pellegrino Matarazzo , three coaches tried their luck at VfB Stuttgart in 2019 : Markus Weinzierl, Nico Willig and Tim Walter . VfB's new sports director, Thomas Hitzlsperger , took a risk with the Matarazzo personnel. For if the football club in May 2020 not climb succeeds, the return on former international Hitzslperger.

Before Pellegrino Matarazzo was signed on , the VfB board had received feedback from its former boss and roommate Julian Nagelsmann . "It was helpful to hear his opinion," said VfB CEO Thomas Hitzlsperger. Matarazzo had shared the room with the current Leipzig coach Nagelsmann during his training as a football coach . During the winter break of the 2017/2018 season, Nagelsmann then brought him to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim as an assistant . "Certainly I took a lot from him," said Pellegrino Matarazzo.

At first, the mathematical and meticulous strategy of the new VfB Stuttgart coach seemed to work: after four wins and a draw in the second half , the football club secured second place in the table in the 2nd Bundesliga . Against SpVgg Greuther Fürth, VfB Stuttgart suffered the first Bundesliga defeat under Pellegrino Matarazzo on February 29 . VfB Stuttgart also lost the first game after the Corona break against Wehen Wiesbaden and reaped mockery on the net, as reported by BW24 *.

* BW24 is part of the Ippen-Digital editors network.

With material from dpa