Italy national football team - Things that you can't miss
Italian football has a long history that is not inferior to football in England and Germany, in terms of achievements, the Italian team is also in the top 3 of the teams that won the most prestigious trophies in the world. Italian football has strong, attractive, and fast-paced gameplay. The players of the Italian team do not play according to stereotypical tactics in matches, but they have flexibility, sometimes unpredictable for opponents. The Italian team coming to the World Cup is also a fear for rival teams because they have never been eliminated from the top of the strongest teams. The reason for this is due to the achievement of 4 times winning the World Cup that Italy has achieved. Coming to this year’s World Cup, the Italian team is continuing to show their stable level as well as proving to the fans how much they deserve the championship trophy. In this article, let’s learn about the Italian national football team, their history, victories, their journey through the seasons as well as their journey to this year’s World Cup.
General information
The Italian national football team is one of the few teams that has achieved great victories for the first time in international tournaments. However, their achievements are still inferior to the big boys in the football world, which are the German national football team and the Brazil national football team. Football in Italy is the most popular sport and also a sport that the Government focuses on investing in and developing, so generations of players in this country are football geniuses and mark their achievements in world football history. The Italian team is a team representing the whole of Italy participating in tournaments that bring together different countries and are directly managed by the Italian Football Federation. The Italian football team has joined FIFA since its inception and quickly gained the opportunity to compete with many great opponents, which has given them more experience and skills over the years. The representative color of the Italian team is called Savoy blue, this color symbolizes the royal Savoy family which ruled Italy many years ago. Up to the present time, despite many changes in design, this color has remained the same over the years. Here are some basic facts about this team:
- Name: Italy national football team
- Nickname: Gli Azzurri
- Association: Italian Football Association (FIGC)
- Confederation of Confederations: Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
- Head Coach: Roberto Mancini
- Captain: Giorgio Chiellini
- Most Played Player: Gianluigi Buffon
- Top scorer: Luigi Riva
- Stadium: Olimpico Stadium
- FIFA Code: ITA
Italy’s journey through the World Cups
The Italian national football team, like England and Germany, has a very long history of football, and they also face difficulties and challenges due to wars and internal problems. However, the achievement of winning the World Cup 4 times is really a remarkable achievement, which has made Italian football attract more followers and many famous players also choose to come to Italy to hone their skills. So, what are the memorable moments that the Italian team’s journey to the World Cup has gone through? And how have they thrived through the World Cups? Let’s find out the information below.
- World Cup 1930
This is the first World Cup in the world after more than two years of preparation by FIFA. At that time, countries around the world valued the Olympics more and considered the Olympics to be the biggest tournament that could help them bring glory to their countries. However, this makes FIFA feel not really satisfied when football is only considered as one of the dozens of other competitions. FIFA wanted to have a football-centric tournament, so in 1930, it was supported by the first members, Uruguay, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden for FIFA officially launched the World Cup. However, choosing the host country to host the World Cup was extremely difficult because, at that time, the member countries were still competing with each other. In the end, FIFA chose Uruguay as the host country of the World Cup, which created a negative effect among the member countries. So, where in 1930, the Italian team could have competed in the World Cup for the first time, and moreover, it was very likely that they would win, Italy decided to withdraw from the list of member states to express their fierce opposition to FIFA. That year, in addition to Italy, a series of other countries left the World Cup to show their displeasure.
- World Cup in 1934 and World Cup in 1938
After refusing to participate in the World Cup 4 years ago, as expected, Italy was chosen as the next country to host the prestigious world football championship. In front of the enthusiastic cheers of the home audience and the comfort of being able to compete in their own country, the Italian team played extremely bravely, and excellently and went straight to the World Cup trophy. That year was not the time when Italian football had the best form and play, not only that, 4 years ago they did not participate in the World Cup, so the Italian team had absolutely no experience in participating in big matches. Therefore, when entering the final round, they had to struggle to win against the Czechoslovak national football team with an extremely fragile score of 2-1. With this result, the Italian team won the championship for the first time. This is also an important milestone that opens the glorious period of Italian football development as well as a change in the structure of operations, squads, and tactics to prove to the world a complete Italian football.
What no national team has been able to do, is win the World Cup twice in a row, the Italian team has done it. At that time, they really proved to fans all over the world that they were the strongest team on the continent and the reform of football had brought positive results. At the World Cup that year, the Italian team defeated Hungary with a score of 4-2. However, the victory of the Italian team in 1938 is still the subject of widespread discussion. The reason is that at that time, World War II was approaching, and the Italian team was threatened that if they did not win, they would have to die, this is the claim of dictator Benito Mussolini. Therefore, it is reported that the referees favored the Italian team and created many opportunities for this team to win. Therefore, despite being recognized by FIFA as the second official World Cup championship, these victories are still known as fascist football.
- World Cup 1950
This is a sad World Cup for the Italian team when they are eliminated from the group stage. This is not because the performance and class of the Italian team tend to decrease, but because a year ago, the country had to receive sad news for Italian football. It was the entire A.C.Torino club that had a plane crash. As a result, the Italian team lost all the main and most talented members, so they were not able to play at their best at the World Cup in Brazil that year, so the Italian team was eliminated from the group stage. This result did not disappoint the fans, not only that, they also sympathized and encouraged the players more.
- World Cup in 1954 and World Cup in 1962
After the defeat four years ago, at the next two World Cups, the 1954 and 1962 World Cups, the results of the Italian team did not make positive progress. This is explained by the terrible accident a few years ago that made the search and training of new players take more time, not only that, approaching and getting used to new tactics will not be perfect in a few days. As a result, the Italian team continued to be eliminated from the group stage, leaving fans in regret. At the moment, Italian clubs are playing extremely strong and reaping many achievements in smaller tournaments, however, the Italian team is not so successful.
- World Cup 1966
Continued to be a forgettable World Cup for the Italian football team. They were eliminated from the silver round by a team that is considered to be much lower in level and position, the national football team of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The North Korean team participated in the World Cup at that time with the sole purpose of the learning experience, they also never thought that they would be able to win against the Italian team, also because of that the Korean team played with a very comfortable mentality, without any pressure and surprisingly, they won against one of the big players in European football at that time. This was taboo for the big teams, and at the time, the Italian team received a lot of criticism for this unbelievable loss.
- World Cup 1970
1970 was the year that Italian football developed and flourished. They went straight to the World Cup final without too many obstacles. Not only that, the Italian team at that time also made the whole world admire a team of extremely talented players. Italian football at that time developed outstandingly in terms of squads, playing styles as well as the individual talents of each player. Although still defeated by the Brazilian national football team in the final, the World Cup that year was considered a complete success for the Italian team.
- World Cup 1978
In the 1978 World Cup, the Italian team played really well and got overwhelming victories over the opposing teams. Almost all the matches the Italian team participated in ended with different scores. However, luck did not smile on the Italian team when they lost to Brazil. The Brazilian team at that time had a very tight play and especially their attack had extremely flexible and precise attack spears. Brazil played in possession of the ball and cornered the Italian team, making them not have the opportunity to deploy the ball as well as deploy tactics on the field. Throughout the 90 minutes of the match, the Italian team played in a passive state and let the Brazilian team squeeze to the point of suffocation. It can be said that the Italian team has never won against Brazil when these two teams face each other.
- World Cup 1982
The 1982 World Cup of the Italian team passed in a rather bleak way in the group stage matches when this team continuously got draws with lower-rated teams. This made the fans lose faith in the victory of the Italian team and most of them openly criticized this team. It is also because of such contradictions that the Italian team has been more motivated when participating in close matches against Brazil and Argentina. With strong, tight play and unpredictable changes, the Italian team easily won against two strong opponents and won the championship.
- World Cup in 1990 and World Cup in 1994
In the 1990 World Cup, the Italian team reached the semi-finals, and in the 1994 World Cup, the Italian team also reached the final, however, they still had to succumb to Argentina and Brazil.
- World Cup 2006
The 2006 World Cup was the 4th World Cup that the Italian team won the championship title, however, to win, they also had to work hard to beat the French team in the final round. Earlier, the Italian team had an impressive debut in the tournament when they won an overwhelming victory over the Ghana national football team. Next, the Italian team had an extremely tense confrontation with the US team, the two teams held each other until the last minute and in the end, luck helped the Italian team continue to the next round. The matches against the Czech team and the Australian team were extremely difficult for Italy, but they succeeded in defeating the other two teams and meeting Ukraine in the quarterfinals. In this round, the Italian team had a resounding victory over Ukraine with a score of 3-0. In the semi-finals, the Italian team met the German team, the two teams had to go to extra time to determine the winner. Winning the German team really cost the Italian team too much, but in return, they reached the final round to face the French team. As both teams were evenly matched and after 90 minutes of the match, with a draw, Italy and France had to participate in the penalty shootout. With strong spirit and determination, the Italian team won the victory over the French team and raised the championship trophy.
- World Cup 2016 and World Cup 2018
These two World Cups are the two World Cups that the Italian team most wants to forget, when they could not meet the expectations of the fans and were unable to win tickets to the World Cup. At that time, the head coach of the Italian team was also fired because of the poor results that the Italian team had.
- World Cup 2022
What is extremely surprising for Italian football fans, is that they will not be able to appear in Qatar this year because this team has failed to win tickets to the 2022 World Cup. The Italian team is on the list of the teams that will participate in the play-off competition to win tickets to the World Cup, and Italy’s opponents are Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Wales, Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, and the Czech Republic. These 12 teams are divided into 3 groups, each group of 4 teams will compete in the semi-final and final format. 3 tickets to the 2022 World Cup for the 3 winning teams in the group finals. In the match against North Macedonia, the Italian team unexpectedly lost with a score of 0-1. This is a shocking result for fans and makes many people skeptical about the level of the team that is said to be the strongest in Europe.
Italy’s squad
The following is a detailed list of players in the Italian squad:
- Salvatore Sirigu (1987, Turin)
- Gianluigi Donnarumma (1999, AC Milan)
- Alex Meret (1997, Napoli)
- Giorgio Chiellini (1984, Juventus)
- Leonardo Bonucci (1987, Juventus)
- Alessandro Florenzi (1991, PSG)
- Emerson (1994, Chelsea)
- Leonardo Spinazzola (1993, Rome)
- Francesco Acerbi (1988, Lazio)
- Giovanni Di Lorenzo (1993, Naples)
- Alessandro Bastoni (1999, Inter Milan)
- Rafael Toloi (1990, Atalanta)
- Marco Verratti (1992, PSG)
- Jorginho (1991, Chelsea)
- Nicolo Barella (1997, Inter Milan)
- Lorenzo Pellegrini (1996, Rome)
- Manuel Locatelli (1998, Sassuolo)
- Matteo Pessina (1997, Atalanta)
- Bryan Cristante (1995, Rome)
- Ciro Immobile (1990, Lazio)
- Lorenzo Insigne (1991, Naples)
- Andrea Belotti (1993, Turin)
- Federico Bernardeschi (1994, Juventus)
- Federico Chiesa (1997, Juventus)
- Domenico Berardi (1994, Sassuolo)
- Giacomo Raspadori (2000, Sassuolo)
Outstanding achievements of the Italian team have achieved
FIFA World Cup
Winner (4): 1934, 1938, 1982, 2006
Runner-up (2): 1970, 1994
Third place (1): 1990
Fourth place (1): 1978
UEFA European Championship
Winner (2): 1968, 2020
Runner-up (2): 2000, 2012
Fourth place (1): 1980
FIFA Confederations Cup
Third place (1): 2013
UEFA Nations League
Third place (1): 2020–21
CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions
Runner-ups (1): 2022
Olympic football tournament
Gold Medal (1): 1936
Bronze Medal (1): 1928
Central European International Cup
Winner (2): 1927–30, 1933–35
Runner-up (2): 1931–32, 1936–38
The prestigious award of the Italian team
Laureus World Team of the Year
Winners (2): 2007, 2022
The participation of the Italian team in tournaments
World Cup
FIFA Confederations Cup
Central European International Cup
UEFA Nations League
Others
Frequently asked questions
The Italian football team has won the World Cup four times.
The head coach of the Italian team is Roberto Mancini.
The Italian team failed to win this year’s World Cup, as they were eliminated in the play-off round by North Macedonia.
Italy has hosted the World Cup twice, in 1934 and 1990.
The most famous players of the Italian team are Marco Verratti, Alessandro Bastoni, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Federico Chiesa, Nicolo Barella, etc.