Italy

The Italian national football team has established a reputation as one of the best footballing nations in the world. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup behind Brazil, winning the tournament in 1934, 1938,1982, and 2006. Italy have also won a European championship in 1968, appearing in two other finals in 2000 and 2012. Cesare Prandelli is the current Italian head coach. 

The Italian national football team is known as the "Azzurri," due to the team's traditional blue colours. Unlike the majority of other international teams, Italy do not have a designated "home stadium", instead playing their home games at various stadiums throughout the country. 

Following Uruguay's early dominance of the World Cup, Italy were the next team to win back-to-back titles in 1934 and 1938 under the leadership of coach Vittorio Pozzo and thanks in large part to the talents of Giuseppe Meazza, widely regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever strikers. 

Italy's appearance in the 1966 World Cup in England will long be remembered for the team's shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of North Korea. Despite going into the tournament as strong favourites to win the title, defeat by the semi-professional Koreans resulted in the Azzurri departing the tournament at the first round stage, with the squad returning home to a furious reception. 

In 1968, Italy won their first major competition since the 1938 World Cup, beating Yugoslavia to win their first European Championship title following a 2-0 victory in the only ever major final replay before the invention of the penalty shootout. The Italian team that went to the 1970 World Cup were tipped by many to win the tournament, only to come up against a Brazil side that has gone down as one of the greatest teams in history. 

Legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff led the Azzurri to the 1982 World Cup title following a 3-0 victory against West Germany, with the 40-year-old Italian captain becoming the oldest player to win a World Cup. 

Marcello Lippi masterminded Italy's most recent World Cup triumph in 2006, leading the team to the title after a thrilling penalty shootout victory against France in the final in Berlin. 

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is Italy's most capped player with over 135 appearances for his country, one of five Italian players to have won over 100 caps, alongside Fabio Cannavaro, Paolo Maldini, Andrea Pirlo and Dino Zoff.  

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