1 Gli Azzurri The Gli Azzurri, or the Italian National Football team, is Italy’s well known soccer team. This team represents Italy in association football. The control of the team is governed by the Italian Football Federation. Italy is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. According to Wikipedia data, the Gli Azzurri “ is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup, having won 4 titles in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006, also appearing in two finals in 1970 and 1994, reaching a third place in 1990 and a fourth place in 1978. They have also won a European championship in 1968, as well as appearing in two other finals in 2000 and 2012, one Olympic football tournament in 1936 and two Central European International Cups. Italy's highest finish was at the Confederations Cup was in 2013, when the squad achieved a third place finish” (wikipedia.org). The Gli Azzurri wears the color blue and is known for their blue uniforms. The team does not have a home stadium like other national teams. Their home field can be 2 found in many stadiums throughout Italy where they play their home matches. However, they train at the FIGC headquarters in Florence. The following chart contains some interesting statistical and descriptive data about the Gli Azzuri. Gli Azzurri (The Blues) Association Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) Confederation UEFA (Europe) Head coach Cesare Prandelli Captain Gianluigi Buffon Most caps Gianluigi Buffon (139) Top scorer Luigi Riva (35) FIFA code ITA FIFA ranking 8 Highest FIFA ranking 1 (November 1993, February 2007, April–June 2007, September 2007) Lowest FIFA ranking 16 (April 1998, October 2010) Chart and data from Wikipedia.org. Web. 16 January 2017. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The Gli Azzurri won four World Cup Tournaments, the latest in 2006. The tournament was hosted by Germany. Italy won their opening game against Ghana 2–0. The second match was a 1–1 tie with the United States. Italy finished first in Group E with a 2–0 win against the Czech Republic. In the quarterfinals Italy beat Ukraine 3–0. In the semi-final, Italy beat host country Germany 2–0 with the two goals coming in the last two minutes of extra time. The Gli Azzurri “won their fourth World Cup, defeating France 5–3 on penalty kicks after a 1–1 draw at the end of extra time” (FIFA.com). “In 3 honor of Italy winning the FIFA World Cup for a fourth time, all of the World Cup Squad were awarded the Italian Order of Merit of Cavaliere Ufficiale” (BBC.org). In closing, I am excited to see how the Gli Azzurri performs in the 2017 World Cup Tournament. Works Cited Wikipedia.org. Italy National Football Team. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 16 January 2017 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy_national_football_team "Azzurri prominent in All Star Team". FIFA.com. 2006-07-07. Web. 16 January 2017. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/germany2006/news/newsid=31923.html "Italy squad given heroes' welcome". BBC Sport. 2006-07-10. Web. 16 January 2017. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/italy/5164410.stm
