Simone Perrotta  Simone Perrotta  (; born 17 September 1977) is a retired Italian footballer who played as a midfielder. Throughout his career he stood out for his work-rate, energy, and box-to-box play as a ball-winner in midfield. After initially playing for Italian sides Reggina, Juventus, Bari, and Chievo, he went on to spend most of his career with Serie A club Roma, from 2004, 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. Born in England, at international level, he represented the Italian national football team on 48 occasions between 2002 and 2009, scoring 2 goals. He was a member of the team that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and also represented Italy in two UEFA European Championships. 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. In 1999, Perrotta was farmed to Bari in a co-ownership deal for 3 billion Italian lire (or €1,549,371), as part of Gianluca Zambrotta's deal, where he played for two seasons, breaking into the first team. In June 2001, Bari acquired him outright for approximately €300,000, making Juventus booked a financial cost of €1.25 million for the discount. At the start of 2001–02 Serie A, following Bari's relegation from the Serie A, he was shipped to Chievo, where he remained for three seasons, and made a name for himself as one of Italy's best midfielders.