Carmine Nunziata has confirmed his 23-man squad for the European Championship, which will take place in Slovakia from 11-28 June. The Coach has excluded two players from his final squad, the Pisa defender Giovanni Bonfanti and the Sassuolo midfielder Cristian Volpato. Following a visit from the National Team's medical staff yesterday, Francesco Pio Esposito has been ruled out and returned to his club. 

Instead, Diego Coppola and Cesare Casadei will be part of the squad, who are currently with the Men's National Team ahead of their World Cup Qualifying matches against Norway and Moldova. If any players are forced to drop out, they can be replaced before the opening match (11 June), on the condition that the Team Doctor and a member of the UEFA Medical Commission confirm that the injury is bad enough to impede participation in the tournament. 

The Azzurrini - who received a surprise visit from Edoardo Bove yesterday - will take part in a test match against the Under 20's before heading to Slovakia on Sunday 8 June. 

ANTOGNONI. The head of the delegation Giancarlo Antognoni, will also be with the Under 21 National Team in Slovakia. World Champion in Spain 1982 and one of the stars in the 'Italian Football Hall of Fame', he had already undertaken the role in 2015 and 2017. One year ago, he was recalled by the Federal President Gabriele Gravina to pass on the values that he learnt during his career, to the young players: "This is a good group, with lots of great players, definitely the best that Italy can put together at the moment. Our task is to help them grow, they're young guys that, despite having different experiences, are all 20 years old. We try to give them the right tips so that they understand that this is an important shirt". 

He continued by emphasising that the team going to Slovakia know that they have what it takes to make their mark: "When Italy leave for these big competitions, we're never the favourites but we always do well. There are very strong teams like France, Spain and England, but we can get good results. In terms of the youth, we've grown a lot of the European wins from the Under 19's and 17's confirm that we've been on an important journey in recent years". 

SHIRT NUMBERS FOR THE 23 MAN SQUAD FOR THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Goalkeepers: 1 Sebastiano Desplanches (Palermo), 22 Jacopo Sassi (Crotone), 12 Gioele Zacchi (Latina);

Defenders: *15 Diego Coppola (Hellas Verona), 6 Daniele Ghilardi (Hellas Verona), 19 Gabriele Guarino (Carrarese), 13 Michael Kayode (Brentford), 5 Lorenzo Pirola (Olympiacos), 3 Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), 16 Riccardo Turicchia (Juventus), 2 Mattia Zanotti (Lugano);

Midfielders: 23 Alessandro Bianco (Monza), *8 Cesare Casadei (Torino), 18 Issa Doumbia (Venezia), 14 Giovanni Fabbian (Bologna), 21 Jacopo Fazzini (Empoli), 7 Cher Ndour (Fiorentina), 20 Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), 4 Matteo Prati (Cagliari);

Forwards: 9 Giuseppe Ambrosino (Frosinone), 11 Tommaso Baldanzi (Roma), 10 Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United), 17 Luca Koleosho (Burnley).

*They will join the group on 10 giugno, after their commitments with the First Team

Staff – Coach: Carmine Nunziata; Head of delegation: Giancarlo Antognoni; Team Manager: Gianfranco Serioli; Technical assistants: Matteo Brighi and Christian Maggio; Athletic coaches: Vito Azzone and Luca Coppari; Goalkeeper coach: Fabrizio Ferron; Match analyst: Gianluca Mazziotti; Medics: Daniele Mazza and Vincenzo Santoriello; Nutritionist. Maria Luisa Cravana; Physiotherapists: Tommaso Cannata, Giuliano Gepponi and Nicola Sanna; Secretary: Manfredi Martino.

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