Italy is among the top teams in international football and the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), just one fewer than Brazil. To this tally they can add one European championship (1968), one Olympic football tournament (1936) and two (defunct) Central European International Cups.
The traditional colour of the national team (as well as all Italian teams and athletes) is azure blue (azzurro, in Italian), due to the “Azzurro Savoia” (Savoy Blue), the colour traditionally linked to the royal dynasty which unified Italy in 1861, and maintained in the official standard of the President of the Italian Republic.
2006 World Cup: Champions for the fourth time
The Starting Line-Up for 2006 Final Italy: Buffon, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Grosso, Camoranesi (Del Piero 86), Pirlo, Gattuso, Perrotta (Iaquinta 61), Totti (De Rossi 61), Toni. Subs Not Used: Amelia, Barone, Barzagli, Gilardino, Inzaghi, Nesta, Oddo, Peruzzi, Zaccardo.
Ten different players scored for Italy and five goals out of twelve were scored by substitutes, while four goals were scored by defenders. Seven players — Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Francesco Totti and Luca Toni — were named to the 23-man tournament All Star Team.
Buffon also won the Lev Yashin Award, given to the best goalkeeper of the tournament; he conceded only two goals in the tournament, the irst an own goal by Zaccardo and the second from Zidane’s penalty kick in the final, and remained unbeaten for 460 consecutive minutes.
In honour 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.
In Euro 2008, the Azzurri got off to a poor start, losing 0–3 to the Netherlands. The following game against Romania ended with 1–1, with a goal by Christian Panucci that came only a minute after Romania’s Adrian Mutu capitalized on a mistake by Gianluca Zambrotta to give Romania the lead. The result was preserved by Gianluigi Buffon who saved a penalty kick from Mutu in the 80th minute.
The final game against France, a rematch of the 2006 World Cup Final, was won with a 2–0 victory. Andrea Pirlo scored from the penalty spot and a free kick by Daniele De Rossi took a wild deflection resulting Italy’s second goal. Romania, entering the day a point ahead of the Italians in Group C, lost to the Netherlands 2–0, allowing Italy to pass into the quarterfinals against eventual champion Spain, where they lost 4–2 on penalties. Within a week after the game, Roberto Donadoni’s contract was terminated and Marcello Lippi was rehired as coach.
By virtue of winning the World Cup, Italy qualified for the Confederations Cup, held in South Africa in June 2009. They won their opening match, against United States, 3–1, but defeats to Egypt (1–0) and Brazil (3–0) meant that they finished third in the group on goals scored, and were eliminated. In October 2009, Italy qualified for the 2010 World Cup South Africa after drawing with Republic of Ireland 2-2. On 4th December 2009, the draw for the 2010 world cup was made, Italy was in Group F alongside Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia.
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