During his playing career he was known as soldatino (toy soldier) or soldatino Di Livio, a nickname his Juventus teammate at the time Roberto Baggio gave him because of Di Livio's diminutive stature, posture, and characteristic way of running up and down the flank.[2][3][4]
Born in Rome, Di Livio began his career with Roma in 1984. Having failed to make an appearance in his only season for the club, Di Livio played for Reggiana (1985–86), Nocerina (1986–87), Perugia (1987–89), Padova (1989–93), Juventus (1993–99) and Fiorentina (1999–2005).
In 1999, he moved to Fiorentina, where he captained the team to win the Coppa Italia during the 2000–01 season. In 2002, when AC Fiorentina went bankrupt and was reborn as Florentia Viola in Serie C2, Di Livio showed his dedication by being the only player to stay with the team, as he played through the depths of Italian football on the climb back to Serie A in 2004, finally retiring after the conclusion of the 2004–05 Serie A season.
Di Livio was capped 40 times for Italy. He played for Italy at Euro 96, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000 (where Italy finished in 2nd place), and the 2002 FIFA World Cup. His first cap came on 6 September 1995 against Slovenia; his last on 18 June 2002 against South Korea. At Euro 1996, he set-up Pierluigi Casiraghi's first goal in the team's 2–1 win in the opening group match against Russia.[5] For Italy, he was often used as a holding player to shut down games when the team was ahead, thus sealing the win.
A quick, experienced, energetic, combative, reliable, and tactically versatile player, Di Livio was usually deployed on the right wing, although he was capable of playing on either flank, as either a wide midfielder, or as a full-back or wing-back, courtesy of his ability with either foot; he was also capable of playing in the centre, as a box-to-box or defensive midfielder, or even in defence. Although he was not the most naturally talented or skilled footballer from a technical standpoint, he was a highly consistent, intelligent, and disciplined player, who was known for his pace, stamina, work-rate, and strength, despite his diminutive stature. He also stood out for his tenacity, mentality, professionalism, man-marking ability, and crossing accuracy, as well as his ability to make attacking runs down the flank, but also track back, which enabled him to cover the wing effectively, and have a successful career.[2][3][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Angelo's son, Lorenzo, is also a footballer;[15] a Roma youth product, he currently plays for Latina. His daughter, Alessia, is an electronic music producer and DJ, performing under the name ADIEL.[16]
As one of the most popular footballers from his generation, Di Livio has kept his public influence and positive reputation till today. In 2011, Angelo Di Livio was named as "Brand ambassador" for SKS365's brand planetwin365.[17]
^ abMaria Elena Ribezzo; Giorgio Dell'Arti (17 January 2014). "Biografia di Angelo Di Livio" (in Italian). www.cinquantamila.it. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
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