Italy

Italy’s national football team is one of the strongest national teams in the world. It is ranked 6th according to the UEFA’s country coefficient and is only behind Brazil in the number of World Cup titles. The unofficial nickname given to the team by the supporters sounds as “Scuadra Azzura” in Italian which literally means Blue Squadron.

During the course of the game Italians use defencive tactics as a rule and prefer organising counter attacks to playing offencively. However, in difference to, say, the Swedish national team which tries not to let opponents play on their half by means of hard pressing Italian players, on the contrary, keep possessing the ball after launching a fruitful attack. Too much attention being paid to defence, the national team frequently had deplorable results both at the world and European levels. Nevertheless, swift attacks combined with deep defence enabled Italy to become one of the most eminent national football teams.

FIFA World Cup 1934 which took place in Italy was the national team’s first one and victorious: the team finished first having defeated Czechoslovakian players in the final. Italians became world champions thrice afterwards: in 1938 in France, in 1982 in Spain and their latest victory dates back to 2006 when they won in Germany.

Italy’s national team became European football champion only once which happened at the home tournament in 1968. In the final game Italian players managed to defeat Yugoslavia.

Cesare Prandelli is the acting team coach. Gigi Riva is the team’s top scorer (35 goals) and Fabio Cannavaro leads in most caps with 136 games played.