Massimo Oddo was born in Pescara, Italy, on June 14th , 1976, as the second of two boys in a family with a strong sporting background, as his mother Maria was a good athlete and his father Francesco was a professional football player and later a football manager, as well as a physical education teacher. His brother Giovanni, however, graduated in Psychology before starting his own business in the building industry.
During his childhood and adolescence, Massimo grew up following the usual steps of the vast majority of Italian boys: their burning passion for football led to countless, never-ending matches in the courtyard, dusted clothes and wounded knees always being part of the process.
Massimo ended up landing in the “Renato Curi”, the best youth team in Pescara, where several future professional player were trained under the guidance of Cetteo Di Mascio. Between them Fabio Grosso, later a teammate of Massimo’s on the National Italian Team that was crowned World Champion winning the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Massimo stayed at “Renato Curi” all the way up to 1993, when he was noted by AC Milan and brought to Milanello together with two teammates, one of them (Roberto D’Aversa) later to be an opponent on multiple occasions.
After two years playing in AC Milan junior team, he went on loan to Fiorenzuola, to play his first professional season in the Italian Serie C1-A. In the meanwhile, having receiving his High School Diploma as Surveyor, he enrolled at the University of Parma – Faculty of Law.
Massimo did not play a lot at Fiorenzuola; as a consequence, he was forced to start it over again the following season, playing in Third Division for Monza, a satellite club for AC Milan. In November he then moved, again on loan, from Monza to Prato. Overall his improvements were on display during the 20 games he played, so much that international clubs such as Newcastle start asking about him; anyway AC Milan had confidence in his skills and his growth, and decided to send him on loan to Lecco, again in Serie C, for the final maturation.
Before the start of the new season, on August 1997, Massimo got the first taste of the national team, taking part with the Azzurri University team to the Universiade in Sicily; the World Champion title could be seen as just a preview of what was to come later!
The good season at Lecco opened up the door to the Serie B. Massimo went back to Monza over the summer of 1998, becoming the precious “joker” that enabled the team managed by Pierluigi Frosio to reach their goal of avoiding relegation. On a personal note, during this season Massimo met future wife Claudia for the first time; they got married 4 years later.
The right wingback not only had a wonderful season playing constantly at a high level, he was also able to develop himself as a free-kick sharpshooter. He scored 4 goals overall, one of them against Napoli, the team where he was sent from AC Milan the following season. Napoli was expected by all of its fan base to gain promotion to Serie A, after two disastrous campaigns. Reaching that team target, coupled with an excellent personal level of performance, allowed Massimo to finally land in Serie A when Hellas Verona acquired him from AC Milan.
His “rookie” season wass impressive: 32 appearances and 4 goals, and a fundamental contribution in keeping Verona in Serie A (after a playoff match against Reggina).
In retrospect is amazing to note that that Verona team was filled with promising young players all with a bright future. Three of them went on on their careers to eventually share the triumph of the 2006 World Cup: Massimo, Alberto Gilardino and Mauro German Camoranesi.
Massimo found himself in the bull’s eye at the end of the season, having attracted the interest of many important Serie A clubs. For the 2001/2002 he was still wearing the yellow-and-blue uniform of Hellas Verona. A season in chiaroscuro for the team of manager Alberto Malesani. Massimo scored against AS Rome on opening day, and he went on to improve his personal score from the previous season to 5 goals; eventually Hellas Verona were relegated to Serie B. Massimo’s disappointment was mitigated by the joy from his marriage to Claudia on May 26th , 2003, and professionally by the thrill of being acquired by the ambitious Lazio Rome. Massimo went on to play 4½ seasons in Italy’s capital, with such highlights as winning a Coppa Italia in 2004, inheriting the Captain’s armband from Alessandro Nesta, and fulfilling his dreams of  debutting on the European stage (UEFA Cup at first, then Champion’s League) and on the National Team.
Giovanni Trapattoni, then coach of the Azzurri, selected Massimo on August 2002 for the match against Slovenia. The Azzurri were in need of a refoundation after the huge disappointment of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, and with Euro2004 in mind, “Trap” selected the most promising players from the previous season. Massimo started on the bench and entered the game subbing for Brighi at the start of the second half. Italy lost that first game against Slovenia, but still qualified for Euro2004 in Portugal. In the meantime, on November 30th 2003, Claudia gave birth to the couple first son, Davide.
Massimo is part of the National team in Portugal, but the outcome was again disappointing as the Azzurri were not able to make it out of the first round.
On the rise professionally, Massimo started his project of giving back to society. During his Lazio years, he teamed up with his brother Giovanni and with Gianluca Di Felice to establish A.M.O. (Associazione Massimo Oddo, or Massimo Oddo Foundation), a non-profit organization that, through the auctioning of original shirts, uniforms and memorabilia collected by Massimo, was to be able to provide support to children in India as well as donate medical machinery to the paediatric department of the hospital in Massimo’s hometown of Pescara.
Pulling off convincing performances with Lazio, Massimo kept gaining respect and consideration on the National Team, and became one of the columns of Marcello Lippi’s rebuilding toward the 2006 World Cup. The adventure in Germany is something of historical proportion. Massimo is one of the 23 heroes that succeed in bringing back to Italy the World Cup, after a waiting of 24 years. He did not rack up a lot of minutes on the pitch, also due to the excellent shape and play of Gianluca Zambrotta, but his contribution inside the locker room was priceless. Back in Italy after the victory, all the players and staff members were celebrated by the highest political authorities as well as by an entire jubilant country. Later in December the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, decorated  the  World Champions as Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (“Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana”).
2007 was a peculiar year both for the career and the personal life of Massimo.
In January another dream came true as he moved back to AC Milan, where his career began. His contribution is immediately pivotal to the success of the Rossoneri coached by Carlo Ancelotti, as they march on to win the Champion’s League in May against Liverpool (2-1), the UEFA Super Cup in August against Sevilla (3-1), and the FIFA Club Wolrd Cup in Japan in December against Boca Juniors (4-2).
During this successful stint Massimo decided to get back at his academic career (previously left behind because of his various overwhelming commitments to both his sport career and his charity foundation), enrolling at the Degree Course in Sports Management at the University of Teramo.
Massimo has finally arisen to the status of celebrity, and companies and publicists alike start to notice. His clean-cut face coupled with his statuesque body creates a package too good not to be “sold”. That’s why Dolce&Gabbana Underwear, and then Fred Mello, chose Massimo as their testimonial.
Fred Mello created an advertising campaign centered on Massimo Oddo and Luca Toni as testimonials; in a lucky turn of events, the two will be later reunited at Bayern Munich in the summer of 2008.
During the holiday season at the end of the year, December 27th 2008, Claudia, Massimo and the Oddo family have even more to celebrate, as they welcome their second son Francesco.
After a year and a half at AC Milan, Massimo is acquired by the Bayern Munich as new coach Juergen Klinsmann wants him to complete a high-level defensive line-up. Maybe it was written somewhere that Germany had to be a special place to him…
Playing for the Bavarian heavyweight, alongside international stars such as Ribéry, Lucio, Podolski, Klose and Luca Toni, Massimo will try to conquer another Champion’s League as well as the only trophy missing to his already impressive palmares: a Bundesliga title.