Italy national under-21 football team
The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation.
| Nickname(s) | Gli Azzurrini (The Little Blues) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Italian Football Federation (Federazion Italia Giuoco Calcio – FIGC) | |||||||||||
| Head coach | Carmine Nunziata | |||||||||||
| Captain | Lorenzo Pirola | |||||||||||
| Most caps | Andrea Pirlo (46) | |||||||||||
| Top scorer | Alberto Gilardino (19) | |||||||||||
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| First international | ||||||||||||
| U-23: Italy 3–1 Austria (Varese, Italy; 1 November 1970) U-21: Portugal 1–0 Italy (Funchal, Italy; 23 December 1976) | ||||||||||||
| Biggest win | ||||||||||||
| Italy 7–0 Estonia (Catanzaro, Italy; 23 March 1995) Italy 8–1 Wales (Pavia, Italy; 5 September 2003) Italy 7–0 Liechtenstein (Casarano, Italy; 6 September 2012) San Marino 0–7 Italy (Serravale, San Marino; 16 November 2023) | ||||||||||||
| Biggest defeat | ||||||||||||
| Norway 6–0 Italy (Stavanger, Norway; 5 June 1991) Records for competitive matches only. | ||||||||||||
| Olympic Games | ||||||||||||
| Appearances | 5 (first in 1992) | |||||||||||
| Best result | Bronze medallist: (2004) | |||||||||||
| UEFA U-21 Championship | ||||||||||||
| Appearances | 22 (first in 1978) | |||||||||||
| Best result | Champions (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004) | |||||||||||
Medal record
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The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Italy (along with Spain) is the most successful nation in the history of the competition, with five Championships won (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2004). Italy has also been twice runner-up of the competition, in 1986 and 2013.
From 1990 to 2004 the team established near-total dominance of European Under-21 football, winning five of the seven tournaments.
Italy's Under-21s played the first match at the new Wembley Stadium, on 24 March 2007, against England Under-21s. The game resulted in a 3–3 draw, with Giampaolo Pazzini scoring all 3 goals for the Azzurrini.
Prior to the 2008 Olympic games, Italy U-21s went on to win the 2008 Toulon Tournament by beating Chile (1–0) in the final. It was the first time they had won this tournament, previously their best had been runner-up on two occasions.