About Simone Perrotta
Simone Perrotta (Italian pronunciation: [siˈmoːne perˈrɔtta]; born 17 September 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in England, he represented the Italy national team. Throughout his career, he stood out for his work-rate, energy, and box-to-box play as a ball-winner in the midfield area. After initially playing for Italian sides Reggina, Juventus, Bari, and Chievo, Perrotta went on to spend most of his career with Serie A club Roma, until his retirement on 29 June 2013; he won consecutive Coppa Italia titles with the club in 2007 and 2008, as well as the 2007 Supercoppa Italiana. He played for Italy on 48 occasions between 2002 and 2009, and was a member of the team that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Perrotta also represented Italy in two UEFA European Championships. == Club career == === Early career: Reggina and Juventus === Perrotta was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, England, in the same hospital as England's 1966 World Cup winner Geoff Hurst. He grew up in the youth system of Reggina and debuted in Serie B in 1995, becoming an important fixture in their line-up. In 1998, Juventus decided to sign him; however, due to the presence of several more experienced and world-class midfielders ahead of him on the team, such as Antonio Conte, Didier Deschamps, Edgar Davids, Alessio Tacchinardi, and Zinedine Zidane, he struggled to gain playing time, and only made five league appearances for the Turin club, and 15 in total. Despite his limited space at the club, he was able to score a goal in the Coppa Italia, make his Champions League debut, and appeared in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup, which Juventus went on to win, before being sent out on loan to Bari.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.