Italy national football team

The Italian national football team (Nazionale italiana di calcio) is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) and represents Italy in international football competition. To this tally they can add one European championship (1968), two Central European International Cup and one Olympic Gold Medal (1936). The traditional colour of the national team (as well as of all Italian teams and athletes except red used in motor sports) is azure blue^[1] (azzurro, in Italian), due to the "Azzurro Savoia" (Savoy Blue), the colour traditionally linked to the dynasty which unified Italy in 1860. Therefore national team members are nicknamed Azzurri. This generation of great Italian players, like Riva, Rivera, Mazzola and Facchetti, did not keep up the same level of performance at the next 1972 European Championship where they did not reach the playoffs. In 1973 they achieved prestigious victories in friendly matches, beating Brazil once and England twice. In particular, Italy stormed Wembley Stadium, winning 1-0 with a goal by Fabio Capello. Despite these encouraging results, coach Valcareggi resigned after the Italian team's elimination in the first round of the 1974 World Cup. Italy was also eliminated at an early stage in 1976 European Championship. Italy failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championship and 1988 saw them reach the semifinals of the European Championship, where they were defeated 2-0 by the USSR. Italy then failed to qualify for the 1992 European Championship. Italy did not progress beyond the group stage at the finals of Euro 96. Gianfranco Zola failed to convert a decisive penalty against Germany, who eventually won the tournament. In the Euro 2000, another shootout was this time to favour Italy, in the semifinal against the co-hosts the Netherlands. Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo saved one penalty during the match and two in the shootout, while the Dutch players missed one other penalty during the match and one during the shootout with a rate of one penalty scored out of six attempts. Emerging star Francesco Totti scored his penalty with a very brave cucchiaio (spoon) chip. Italy finished the tournament as runners-up, unluckily losing the final 2–1 against France (to a golden goal in extra time) after conceding les Bleus' equalizing goal just 30 seconds before the expected end of injury time (94'). After the defeat, coach Dino Zoff resigned in protest after being criticized by A.C. Milan president and politician Silvio Berlusconi. A three-way tie in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship left Italy as the "odd man out", and they failed to qualify for the quarterfinals after finishing behind Denmark and Sweden on the basis of number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams.^[15] The winning goal scored during stoppage time against Bulgaria by Antonio Cassano resulted useless, leaving the Italian striker in tears at the end of the game. Italy played in the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group B, along with France. Italy won the group, with France being the runner-up.

Eropean Champion record :
* 1960 - did not enter
* 1964 - did not quality
* 1968 - champion
* 1972 and 1976 - did not quality
* 1980 - fourt place
* 1984 - did not quality
* 1988 - semifinal
* 1992 - did not quality
* 1996 - round 1
* 2000 - runner up
* 2004 - round 1
* 2008 - qualified

Coaces :
Vittorio Pozzo (1912)
Vittorio Pozzo (1924)
Carlo Carcano (1928–1929)
Vittorio Pozzo (1929–1948) — World Champions 1934, World Champions 1938
Ferruccio Novo (1949–1950) — as Technical Commission Chairman
Giuseppe Viani (1960)
Giovanni Ferrari (1960–1961)
Giovanni Ferrari and Paolo Mazza (1962)
Edmondo Fabbri (1962–1966)
Helenio Herrera and Ferruccio Valcareggi (1966–1967)
Ferruccio Valcareggi (1967–1974) — European Champions 1968, Runners-Up World Cup 1970
Fulvio Bernardini (1974–1975)
Enzo Bearzot (1975–1986) — World Champions 1982— 4th Place World Cup 1978
Azeglio Vicini (1986–1991) — 3rd Place World Cup 1990
Arrigo Sacchi (1991–1996) — Runners-Up World Cup 1994
Cesare Maldini (1997–1998)
Dino Zoff (1998–2000) — Runners-Up European Championships 2000
Giovanni Trapattoni (2000–2004)
Marcello Lippi (2004–2006) — World Champions 2006
Roberto Donadoni (2006-current)

The players :
Gianluigi Buffon
Fabio Cannavaro
Gianluca Zambrotta
Fabio Grosso
Marco Materazzi
Christian Panucci
Massimo Oddo
Daniele De Rossi
Simone Perrotta
Massimo Ambrosini
Gennaro Gattuso
Andrea Pirlo
Mauro Camoranesi
Luca Toni
Marco Borriello
Vincenzo Iaquinta
Antonio Di Natale