As part of the collaboration agreements with the Lazio region and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Regionthe FIGC has decided to organize the four home matches between September and October in the two regions Senior national team and the National Under 21 team: Thursday 5 September at the ‘Domenico Francioni’ Stadium in Latin the match valid for the qualifiers for the 2025 European Championship will be played between Carmine Nunziata’s Under 21 team and San Marino, while on Thursday 10 October the Olympic Stadium of Rome will host the Nations League match between the senior national team and Belgium.
The ball will then pass to Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Monday 14 October at the Friuli Stadium in Udine the senior national team will face Israel in the Nations League and the following day at the ‘Nereo Rocco’ Stadium Trieste will be the setting for the match valid for the European qualifiers between the Under 21s and the Republic of Ireland.
MAJOR NATIONAL TEAM. Roma and Udine will therefore host the first two home matches of the senior national team in the UEFA Nations League 2024/2025. Italy-Belgium will be played at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday 10 October, while the Azzurri will be on stage against Israel at the Friuli Stadium on Monday 14 October. Both matches are scheduled for 8.45pm. Italy’s journey in the Nations League will begin with a double away match: Friday 6 September at the Parc des Princes in Paris against France and Tuesday 10 September at the Bozsik Arena in Budapest against Israel. After the two matches in October, the national team will visit Belgium on Thursday 14th November and then close the group on Sunday 17th by hosting France.
THE NATIONAL TEAM PRECEDENTS IN ROME AND UDINE. Rome is the city in which the national team has played the highest number of matches (64, with 39 wins, 18 draws and 7 defeats), the last of which was on 17 November 2023 against North Macedonia: the result was 5-2 for the Azzurri, who thanks to that success took an important step forward towards qualifying for EURO 2024. Instead, 9 matches were played in Udine, where Italy is undefeated having collected 7 wins and 2 draws. The last precedent dates back to 23 March 2019 and the 2-0 success over Finland in a match valid for EURO 2020 qualifiers.
NATIONAL UNDER 21. First in the standings in Group A with two points ahead of the Republic of Ireland and three over Norway – but with one more match under their belt – the National Under 21 team will resume its journey in qualifying for the European Championship on Thursday 5 September at the Stadio Domenico Francioni’ of Latina against San Marino and then visits Norway on Tuesday 10 September. On Tuesday 15 October the ‘Nereo Rocco’ Stadium in Trieste will host the last match of the group, which will see the Azzurrini against the Republic of Ireland.
THE UNDER 21 PREVIOUS REPORTS IN LATINA AND TRIESTE. The only precedent of the Under 21 national team in Latina dates back to 20 January 1993, when a late goal by Christian Panucci gave Italy led by Cesare Maldini a 1-0 success in the friendly against Romania. The Azzurrini have played 5 matches in Trieste (3 at the ‘Nereo Rocco’, 2 at the ‘Giuseppe Grezar’), where they are undefeated having collected 3 wins and 2 draws. The 5-2 success in the friendly against the Netherlands in May 1971 was followed by the victory (2-1) against Czechoslovakia in April 1983 and draws in the friendlies with Sweden and Austria, played in February 2009 and March 2019. The last precedent for ‘Nereo Rocco’ dates back to 29 March 2022, when in a match valid for qualifying for the European Championship, Italy beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 thanks to a goal scored by Nicolò Rovella.
