Matteo Gabbia was born on 21 October 1999 in the Lombardy town of Busto Arsizio and joined AC Milan's youth academy at age 12 in 2012. After his competitive debut in a 2017 Europa League qualifier, he gained experience on loan at Lucchese in Serie C in 2018-19, where he made 30 appearances.
He worked his way back into Milan's first team as a squad rotation centre-back, and was part of the squad that won the 2021-22 Serie A title. A 2023-24 loan to Spanish side Villarreal was cut short by an injury crisis at Milan, who recalled him in January 2024. His performances on his return earned him a contract extension, and he has since added the 2024-25 Supercoppa Italiana to his honours and remained a regular into 2025-26.
For Italy he was U19 European Championship runner-up in 2018, and in October 2024 he received his first senior call-up.
Standing 1.90 m, Gabbia is a positionally smart centre-back who combines duels and aerial ability with the kind of clean long passing not always associated with players of his profile, and he has steadily developed from rotation option into a coach-trusted starter for Milan over the past two seasons.