The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.
| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Nickname(s) | Azzurrini (Little Blues) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio | ||
| Head coach | Pierluigi Casiraghi | ||
| Most caps | Andrea Pirlo (46) | ||
| Top scorer | Alberto Gilardino (19) | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
| U23: Italy 3-1 Austria Varese, November 1 1970 U21: Portugal 1-0 Italy Funchal, December 23 1976 | |||
| Biggest win | |||
| Italy 7-0 Estonia Catanzaro, March 23 1995 Italy 8-1 Wales Pavia, September 5 2003 | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
| Norway 6-0 Italy Stavanger, June 5 1991 matches only. | |||
| UEFA U-21 Championship | |||
| Appearances | 13 (first in 1978) | ||
| Best result | Winners: 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004 | ||
Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Italian Under-21 team was formed. Until 1990, the team had a very good record - reaching the last eight of each of the first seven UEFA U-21 Chammpionships. Since 1990, the team has established near-total dominance of European Under-21 football, winning five of the next seven tournaments. It is the most successful nation in the history of the competition.
The lowest point for the team came in 1997, when it failed to qualify for the 1998 finals. The team won the 2004 tournament finals in Germany. In the 2006 tournament finals in Portugal the team failed to advance to second round. This was Italy's 14th U-21 finals tournament.
UEFA U-23 Championship Record
Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, Italy's record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown.
- 1972: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
- 1974: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1976: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
UEFA U-21 Championship Record
- 1977-1978: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1979-1980: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 19811982: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 19831984: Losing semi-finalists.
- 1985-1986: Runners-up.
- 1987-1988: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1989-1990: Losing semi-finalists.
- 1991-1992: Winners.
- 1993-1994: Winners.
- 1995-1996: Winners.
- 1997-1998: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 5 in qualification group.
- 1999-2000: Winners.
- 2001-2002: Losing semi-finalists.
- 2003-2004: Winners.
- 2005-2006: Finished 3rd of 4 in finals group.
Coaches
- 1977-1986: Azeglio Vicini
- 1986-1996: Cesare Maldini
- 1996-1998: Rossano Giampaglia
- 1998-2000: Marco Tardelli
- 2000-2006: Claudio Gentile
- 2006-present: Pierluigi Casiraghi
Current and recent players
Players born in 1983 or later were eligible for the 2004-2006 competition. Only players born in 1985 or later will be eligible for the forthcoming campaign. Despite disqualified, Italy still field older players in friendlies before the start of that campaign. The U-19 team will be the most obvious source of the next crop of Under-21s.
Giuseppe Rossi, born 1987, would be eligible to play for the U-19s but has never done so, playing for the U-21 side instead.
|
1984-born |
1985-born |
1986-born |
1987-born |
Those players in italics have caps for the senior team. Details of exactly which players have been selected for the August 2006 fixture against Croatia are available here.
See also
Sources/External links
- UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
- The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.