The National Team
The Italian national men's football team (Italian: Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia）， The football representative team representing the Italian senior team in international competitions is affiliated with the Italian Football Association and often plays at the Rome Olympic Stadium. [6] [10]
In 1910, the Italian national men's football team made its international debut, defeating the French team 6-2 at home. [9] In 1934, Italy hosted and participated in the World Cup for the first time, defeating Czechoslovakia 2-1 in the final and winning the team's first World Cup championship. In the 1938 World Cup, the Italian team successfully defended their title. [9] In the 1982 World Cup, the Italian team once again won the cup with their solid defense known as "concrete defense" and individual offensive performance, becoming the second team to win the World Cup championship three times. [11] In the 1994 World Cup, the Italian team defeated Nigeria, Spain, and Bulgaria consecutively in the knockout stage to advance to the final, during which Baggio scored 5 goals. But in the final, Robert Baggio missed a crucial penalty and handed the championship to the Brazilian team. [9] In the 2006 World Cup, the Italian team performed well, defeating Australia, Ukraine, and Germany without conceding a goal, and once again met the French team in the final. This time, the final was full of controversy. The game ended 1-1 and entered a penalty shootout, but before that, Zinedine Zidane was sent off for overhead Marco Materazzi. The Italian team won the penalty shootout and won their fourth World Cup championship. [9] In 2018, the Italian team failed to qualify for the World Cup finals. In 2021, the Italian team won the European Championship for the second time. [9] In 2022, Italy once again failed to qualify for the European qualifiers of the World Cup. [9]
In 1968, Italy won the first European Championship. [9] In the 2024 European Championship, the Italian team lost 0-2 to the Swiss team in the round of 16 and was eliminated.
