Italy national under-20 football team is the national under-20 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation.
Nickname(s) | Gli Azzurrini | ||
---|---|---|---|
Association | Italian Football Federation (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio – FIGC) | ||
Head coach | Alberto Bollini | ||
Captain | Samuel Giovane | ||
| |||
FIFA U-20 World Cup | |||
Appearances | 8 (first in 1977) | ||
Best result | Runners-up (2023) | ||
Under 20 Elite League | |||
Appearances | 6 (first in 2017–18) | ||
Best result | Winner (2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24) |
The team competes for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which is held every two years, and for the Under-20 Elite League, held every year.
The Under-20 team is de facto based on the previous year's Under-19 team and acts mainly as a support team for the Under-21 selection, providing further international experience for young selectable players.
The team competes for its only official tournament, the FIFA U-20 World Cup, depending on the U19s results at the UEFA European Under-19 Championship held in the even-numbered years, that qualifies European teams for the U-20 World Cup.
The best result obtained by the Italian team in the U-20 World Cup is the second place achieved in the 2023 edition held in Argentina, losing 1–0 against Uruguay. They finished also third in 2017 and fourth in 2019. Italy managed to qualify for the first time for two consecutive U-20 World Cups after winning its group at the 2018 European U-19 Championship, then finishing fourth at the following year's World Cup.
Each season the team mainly participates in friendly tournaments, in which overage players may also be selected. The U20 team participated until 2017 in the annual Four Nations Tournament with Germany, Switzerland and Poland (which replaced Austria). Since the 2017–18 season, the Italy U20 team participates in the annual Under 20 Elite League, expanded to 8 participants.
The team also had an annual fixture with the Serie D Best XI after the end of the season.[1][2][3][4]
Year | Result | GP | W | D* | L | GS | GA | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
1979 | Did not qualify | |||||||
1981 | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | |
1983 | Did not qualify | |||||||
1985 | ||||||||
1987 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | |
1989 | Did not qualify | |||||||
1991 | ||||||||
1993 | ||||||||
1995 | ||||||||
1997 | ||||||||
1999 | ||||||||
2001 | ||||||||
2003 | ||||||||
2005 | Quarter-finals | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | |
2007 | Did not qualify | |||||||
2009 | Quarter-finals | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 9 | |
2011 | Did not qualify | |||||||
2013 | ||||||||
2015 | ||||||||
2017 | Third place | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 9 | |
2019 | Fourth place | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | |
|
Cancelled[5] | |||||||
2023 | Runners-up | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | |
2025 | To be determined | |||||||
Total | 8/24 | 41 | 18 | 8 | 15 | 57 | 51 |
The following 23 players were called up for the Under 20 Elite League matches against England and Portugal on 16 and 21 November 2023, respectively.[6]
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GK | Davide Mastrantonio | 16 January 2004 | Pro Vercelli | |||
GK | Lorenzo Palmisani | 12 June 2004 | Frosinone | |||
DF | Samuele Angori | 7 October 2003 | Pontedera | |||
DF | Giovanni Bonfanti | 17 January 2003 | Atalanta U23 | |||
DF | Alessandro Dellavalle | 11 May 2004 | Torino | |||
DF | Alessandro Fontanarosa | 7 February 2003 | Cosenza | |||
DF | Filippo Missori | 24 March 2004 | Sassuolo | |||
DF | Iacopo Regonesi | 28 March 2004 | Atalanta U23 | |||
DF | Alessandro Pio Riccio | 6 February 2002 | Modena | |||
DF | Filippo Terracciano | 8 February 2003 | Milan | |||
MF | Lorenzo Amatucci | 5 February 2004 | Ternana | |||
MF | Giacomo Faticanti | 31 July 2004 | Ternana | |||
MF | Luis Hasa | 6 January 2004 | Juventus Next Gen | |||
MF | Lorenzo Ignacchiti | 25 April 2004 | Pontedera | |||
MF | Riccardo Pagano | 28 November 2004 | Roma | |||
MF | Niccolò Pisilli | 23 September 2004 | Roma | |||
MF | Federico Zuccon | 1 April 2003 | Cosenza | |||
FW | Federico Accornero | 5 February 2004 | Pescara | |||
FW | Nicholas Bonfanti | 28 March 2002 | Pisa | |||
FW | Luigi Cherubini | 15 January 2004 | Roma | |||
FW | Luca D'Andrea | 10 September 2004 | Catanzaro | |||
FW | Daniele Montevago | 18 March 2003 | Virtus Entella | |||
FW | Nicolò Turco | 15 January 2004 | Liefering |