Italy national under-21 football team
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| Nickname | Azzurrini (Little Blues) |
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| Association | Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio |
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| Coach | Pierluigi Casiraghi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Captain | Giorgio Chiellini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most caps | Andrea Pirlo (46) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top scorer | Alberto Gilardino (19) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| First International U23: Italy 3-1 Austria Varese, November 1, 1970 U21: Portugal 1-0 Italy Funchal, December 23, 1976 |
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| Largest win Italy 7-0 Estonia Catanzaro, March 23, 1995 Italy 8-1 Wales Pavia, September 5, 2003 |
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| Worst defeat Norway 6-0 Italy Stavanger, June 5, 1991 matches only. |
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| UEFA U-21 Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | 13 (First in 1978) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Winners: 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
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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.
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.
Italy's Under-21s played the first match at the new Wembley stadium, on 24 March 2007, against England Under-21s. The game resulted in a 3-3 draw, with Gianpaolo Pazzini scoring all 3 goals for the Azzurrini.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] UEFA U-21 Championship Record
- 1977-1978: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1979-1980: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1981-1982: Losing quarter-finalists.
- 1983-1984: 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.
[edit] Olympics football Record
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Football | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 2004 Athens | Team | |
Since 1992 Olympics football changed to U-23 event, and the European U-21 teams, technically is a U-23 teams. The winnier, runner-up and third place of UEFA U-21 Championship qualify for Olympics.
- Before 1992: See Italy national football team
- 1992: Losing quarter-finalists
- 1996: Finished 4th of 4 in finals group
- 2000: Losing quarter-finalists
- 2004: Bronze Medal
[edit] Mediterranean Games Record
Mediterranean Games Football tournament was U-23 event in 1993 and 1997.
- 1993: 4th place
- 1997: Winners
- 2001 and 2005: a U-20 and U-18 event
[edit] 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
[edit] Current and recent players
Players born in 1984 or later are eligible for the 2006-07 UEFA European U-21 Championship, players born in 1986 or later are eligible for the 2007-09 UEFA European U-21 Championship, and so on. The Under-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.
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1984-born |
1985-born |
1986-born |
1987-born |
1988-born |
Those players in italics have caps for the senior team. Details of exactly which players have been selected for the December 2006 fixture against Luxembourg are available here.
[edit] See also
[edit] 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.
