The National Team’s “World Cup mission” kicks off Sunday evening with the squad gathering at the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio Technical Centre in Coverciano. The team will face Northern Ireland in the play-off semifinal on Thursday, 26 March 26 at 20:45 CET at the Stadio di Bergamo.If they win against Northern Ireland, Italy will play the winner of Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina for a World Cup spot on Tuesday, 31 March, away. The two losing semifinalists from Play-Off Path A (Italy vs. Northern Ireland / Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina) will instead take part in a friendly on March 31, which the Azzurri would also play away, in Cardiff or Zenica.

 

 

28 players have been called up by head coach Gennaro Gattuso, with Marco Palestra being a new face on the squad. Palestra is a defender from Cagliari, born in 2005, making his first appearance with the senior national team. Federico Chiesa, 2021 European champion and absent from the national team since EURO 2024, will be back in the Azzurri jersey. This is also Giorgio Scalvini and Niccolò Pisilli’s first call-up under Gattuso, as they have been absent since March and November 2024, respectively.

 

SQUAD LIST

Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Cagliari), Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Alex Meret (Napoli);

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Diego Coppola (Paris FC), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Marco Palestra (Cagliari), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo Spinazzola (Napoli);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);

Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Liverpool), Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Atalanta), Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta).

THE OPPONENT. Northern Ireland (69th in the FIFA Ranking), reinstated thanks to finishing first in their Nations League Group C, finished third in Qualifying Group A behind Germany and Slovakia, with a record of three wins and three losses. The two sides have met eleven times before, with Italy recording seven victories, three draws, and a single painful defeat, the 2-1 loss on 15 January 1958, in Belfast, which stopped the Azzurri from qualifying for the World Cup. The most recent encounter, also in Belfast, ended 0-0 in the final Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier, sending Italy to the play-offs.

THE NATIONAL TEAM IN BERGAMO. Italy remain unbeaten in Bergamo, where they will be back in front of 23,000 fans, six months after the emphatic 5-0 victory over Estonia on Gennaro Gattuso’s debut as National Team coach. The team have played four matches in the city, recording two 5-0 victories (the other against Malta in January 1987) and drawing 1-1 twice (in a friendly against Turkey in November 2006 and in the Nations League match against the Netherlands in October 2020).