[6][7][8][9][10] He made over 400 Serie A appearances in a 20-year career spread between Lazio and AC Milan, winning domestic and European honours with both clubs.

In the 1993–94 season he was called up to the first team, and on 13 March 1994 he made his debut in a 2–2 away draw against Udinese; Nesta came on for Pierluigi Casiraghi during the 78th minute.

[15] He assumed the team captaincy in 1997 under Sven-Göran Eriksson, and helped Lazio win the 1998 Coppa Italia against AC Milan in the final 3–2 on aggregate, in which he scored the decisive goal in the second leg.

He returned to the field in December, and, as captain, led Lazio in the title race, lost by a single point on the final day of the season.

[27] Just before the 2002–03 Serie A campaign, financial woes forced Lazio to sell many of their best players, including Nesta, who transferred to Milan for €30,987,000 (60 billion lire).

[28] During this time, he would form a formidable defensive line alongside Paolo Maldini, Cafu, Alessandro Costacurta and Jaap Stam, among others.

Nesta helped Milan keep a clean sheet during the match, which went to a penalty shootout following a 0–0 deadlock after extra time.

[24][57] Milan would disappoint throughout the rest of the season, however, finishing fifth in Serie A,[58] and being eliminated in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League and the Coppa Italia.

[59][60] Serious back injuries forced Nesta out of action for the whole 2008–09 season, which raised concerns about his chances to make a comeback into active football.

[64] He began to re-emerge as a starter for the club and was one of Milan's most consistent players throughout the entire 2009–10 season under Leonardo, as the team finished third in Serie A.

[65][66] Nesta continued his excellent partnership with fellow centre-back Thiago Silva throughout the 2010–11 season under Massimiliano Allegri, forming a formidable defensive pairing, conceding just 24 goals in 38 games during Milan's victorious Serie A campaign.

On 20 October 2013, Nesta announced that he would be retiring at the conclusion of the 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs after playing parts of two seasons with the Impact.

[80] He made his debut on 9 December in a 2–2 draw against Delhi Dynamos, partnering Mikaël Silvestre in central defence in Chennaiyin's last match of a regular season in which they topped the league.

[84] On 5 October 1996, Nesta debuted for the Italy national football team under Cesare Maldini during a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifiction, in a 3–1 away victory against Moldova.

Italy only conceded two goals en route to the final, and kept three clean sheets throughout the tournament; the first coming against co-hosts Belgium in the group stage,[90] and the second against Romania in the quarter-finals, in which he was named man of the match.

[24][95] After Euro 2000, Nesta remained a first-choice centre-back for Italy under new manager Giovanni Trapattoni, featuring extensively during the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign.

During the 2002 World Cup, he partnered Fabio Cannavaro in central defence, keeping a clean sheet in the opening win against Ecuador,[96] but once again, injury kept him from playing in the second round, and Nesta did not feature in the controversial second-round defeat to co-hosts South Korea.

[98] Nesta managed to stay injury free and played for a full 90 minutes in all three group games, helping Italy to keep a clean sheet in the opening draw against Denmark.

[24][99][100] Following two successive disappointments, newly-appointed coach Marcello Lippi kept Nesta in the starting lineup as Italy was on top of their qualification group to the 2006 World Cup.

[103][104] After the World Cup, Nesta made one appearance in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, in a 3–1 away win against Georgia on 11 October 2006, but continuous injuries forced him to retire from the international team.

[3] On 31 August 2015, Nesta was introduced as the first head coach of the newly formed Miami FC, which began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in April 2016.

However, the team were defeated in the season playoffs semifinal round to the New York Cosmos following a 6–5 loss in the penalty shootout after a goalless draw.

[120] He missed the first game of the season against Empoli due to suspension,[121] debuting on 24 August with a 1–0 home loss to a Genoa team led by fellow 2006 World Cup winner Alberto Gilardino.

[6][7][8][124][125] Despite being a strong and imposing defensive, athletic and physical presence, he was also an extremely agile and elegant player, with excellent balance, ball skills, vision and passing ability for a defender, which allowed him to bring the ball out of the defence and start plays from the back after winning back possession; these abilities led him to be compared to former Milan captain Franco Baresi.

[8][125][127][133][134][135] In addition to his class, as well as his technical and physical abilities, Nesta also possessed an excellent positional and tactical sense, as well as an acute capacity to read the game, which enabled him to anticipate and close down opponents in one on one situations, and prevent attacking plays; his defensive intelligence enabled him to maintain a consistently high level of performance even towards the end of his career, as he lost his pace and stamina.

[8][124][127][133][136][137][138][139] Despite his talent, Nesta's career suffered from the many injuries he encountered, which hindered him from playing in the knockout stages at each of the three World Cups at which he participated.