Early years Born in
Pontecagnano Faiano, Province of Salerno, Maresca started playing football at the age of 11 with
A.C. Milan and joined
Cagliari after three years. Maresca started his professional career with English club
West Bromwich Albion, despite having "no grasp of the English language". He made his debut in a 2–0 home defeat against
Bradford City on 20 September 1998, and played two incomplete seasons with the English club in the
Football League First Division.
Juventus In January 2000, Maresca moved back to Italy and joined
Juventus in a
transfer worth
£4.3 million, a club-record sale for Albion at the time. He played in one
Serie A game before the end of
the season. For two of the following three seasons, Maresca was loaned to fellow league teams
Bologna and
Piacenza—a
co-ownership deal in the latter case—scoring nine goals in the
2002–03 season but suffering team relegation. During
the previous campaign, he notably netted an important equaliser in the
Derby della Mole return leg, against neighbouring
Torino; he attracted controversy, however, when he celebrated the goal by mimicking Torino's
Marco Ferrante's earlier "bull-horn"
goal celebration (the bull being a club symbol as it is
Turin's coat of arms, and the side also being known in its contracted form as "Toro", bull in Italian). Juventus subsequently bought the remaining 50% of his rights for
€2.6 million.
Fiorentina In the summer of 2004,
Fiorentina signed Maresca along with
Fabrizio Miccoli and
Giorgio Chiellini for €13 million, with Juventus holding half of the players' rights. He made his official debut on 12 September, playing 60 minutes in a 0–1 away defeat to
Roma. At the end of
the season, with the
Viola narrowly avoiding top level relegation, Juventus bought back all three for around €6.7 million in a blind auction between the clubs. Maresca's cost was of only about €7,000, but an additional €420,000 agent fee in order to keep the player was also involved.
Sevilla On 16 July 2005, Maresca transferred to
Sevilla for a fee of €2.5 million on a four-year contract. In
his first season in
La Liga, he played 29 games and scored eight goals. He played eleven games and scored three goals in the side's
victorious campaign in the
UEFA Cup. This included scoring twice in
the final against
Middlesbrough (4–0), in which he was also named
man of the match. Maresca donated €10,000 prize money to the San Juan de Dios hospital in
Seville. He scored a late
penalty, after coming off the bench, to seal a 3–0 win over
Barcelona in
2006 UEFA Super Cup. Maresca played 45 minutes in the
2007 UEFA Cup final at
Hampden Park, as Sevilla successfully defended its European title against
Espanyol. He appeared in an average of 22 league matches in his last three years combined.
Olympiacos On 13 July 2009, Maresca transferred to Greek club
Olympiacos in a three-year deal. He scored in his
Super League debut, a 2–0 win at
AEL, and appeared regularly during the
2009–10 campaign as the
Piraeus-based club finished in second position.
Málaga After terminating his contract with Olympiacos in August 2010, Maresca trained with former club Fiorentina in order to maintain match fitness. On 7 December, it was announced that he had been in talks with
Málaga; after undergoing a medical examination, he signed with the
Andalusians until June 2012. Maresca made his league debut for his new team on 8 January 2011, playing 57 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against
Athletic Bilbao. On 7 May, he contributed with one goal to the team's 3–0 success at
Atlético Madrid. Maresca appeared in 19 matches in the
2011–12 season (nine starts, two goals) as his team finished in fourth position and
qualified for the
UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history.
Return to Italy On 2 July 2012, as his contract was about to expire, Maresca signed a new one-year contract with Málaga; but then returned to Italy to join
Sampdoria for free at the end of August. On 4 November, he scored his second goal of
the season via a
bicycle kick, in a 2–1 home defeat to
Atalanta. In January 2014, after having featured rarely in the first half of
the new campaign, he agreed on a return to the
Serie B and joined league leaders
Palermo, who were in need of a
playmaker. Maresca made 13 league appearances as Palermo finished the season as champions. In September, he underwent an operation due to acute
appendicitis, and the following January, he signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2016. On the final day of the
2015–16 Serie A season, Maresca scored in a 3–2 home win over
Hellas Verona to help save his team from relegation. Ahead of the following season, now a
free agent, he joined the relegated opposition. In January 2017, Maresca terminated his contract with Hellas, and retired from playing the following month, on his 37th birthday. ==International career==