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Italy national team. UEFA (Europe). Gli Azzurri (the Blues). Home jersey: House of Savoy Blue, with red-white-green trim. {‘Coat of arms of the House of Savoy, Vittorio Emanuelle II‘ (pbase.com)}.
Question: why does Italy play in blue?. Answer (from BBC.co.uk): ‘Italy play in blue shirts rather than the colours of their national flag in a custom dating back to the country’s pre-republican days. Blue was the official colour of the Royal House of Savoy and the Azzurri tribute to the Italian monarchy survives today.’ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/specials/html/linekers_verdict/italy.stm).
-Italy is in 2014 FIFA World Cup Group D (with Costa Rica, England, and Uruguay), ‘2014 FIFA World Cup Group D‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification: 2014 is Italy’s 18th qualification out of 19 tries (1930: did not enter; 1958: did not qualify).
Italy has qualified for the World Cup in: 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014.
Previous WC finish: 2010, Group Stage (0-2-1).
Highest WC finish:
1934, Champions (4-1-0).
1938: Champions (4-0-0).
1982: Champions (4-3-0).
2006: Champions (5-2-0).
Italy have won the FIFA World Cup 4 times, which is second only to Brazil’s 5 World Cup titles {en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FIFA_World_Cup_finals#Results_by_nation}.
Population of Italy: 59.9 million {2013 estimate}. Capital & largest city: Rome, city pop. 2.6 million {2013 estimate}; metro area pop. 4.3 million {2012 estimate}. Largest metro area: Milan, city pop.1.3 million {2013 estimate}; metro area pop. 7.6 million {2012 estimate}.
Italy’s 8 largest metro areas can be seen in the following link, ‘Metropolitan cities of Italy/Sizing, Economic Performance‘ (en.wikipedia.org). (The largest 8 metro areas in Italy are also shown on the map below.)
-Italy coach, Cesare Prandelli. Cesare Prandelli. -Italy squad captain, GK Gianluigi ‘Gigi’ Buffon (Juventus). Gianluigi Buffon.
[Note: the chart below is updated to reflect final roster selection for 2014 WC/ 'Italy national football team/Current Squad' (en.wikipedia.org).]
Below: Theoretical Best XI for Italy (with 11 other player-options further below) -
Photo and Image credits above -
Italy 2013-14 home jersey, photo from footballkitnews.com/talia-home-kit-2013-2014.
Italy/EU map, by NuclearVacuum at ‘File:EU-Italy.svg‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Italy map by Eric Gaba & NordNordWest at ‘File:Italy relief location map-blank.jpg‘ (commons.wikipedia.org).
Coach,
Cesare Prandelli, photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images via sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news.
Goalkeeper,
Gigi Buffon (Juventus), photo unattributed at funscrape.com/gianluigi+buffon.
Defenders,
Ignazio Abate (Milan), photo by Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), photo by Nigel French/EMPICS via london24.com/sport.
Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), photo unattributed at juventusfans.forumcommunity.net.
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), photo unattributed at zastavki.com.
Midfielders,
Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), photo unattributed at forzaitalianfootball.com.
Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), photo unattributed at planetf1.com.
Riccardo Montolivo (Milan), photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Daniele De Rossi (Roma), photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Forwards,
Mario Balotelli (Milan), photo unattributed at 1.skysports.com/football.
Antonio Cassano (Parma), photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Other player-options,
Thiago Motta MF/CMF/DMF (PSG), photo by L’Equipe at lequipe.fr/Football.
Alberto Aquilani CM (Fiorentina), photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Alessio Cerci (Torino), photo unattributed at futura.unito.it/blog.
Lorenzo Insigne AMF/LW (Napoli), photo unattributed at calciomalato.blogosfere.it.
Mattia De Sciglio DF/RB (Milan), photo by Dino Panato/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Antonio Candreva RW/RM/AM (Lazio), photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Gabriel Paletta CB (Parma), photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Marco Verratti CM (PSG), photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Matteo Darmian RB/CB (Torino), photo from media2.ftbpro.com.
Salvatore Sirigu GK (PSG), photo from uefa.com.
Ciro Immobile FW (Torino), photo from m.goal.com/jp.
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Thanks to the contributors at ‘2014 FIFA World Cup qualification‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Thanks to the contributors at ‘Italy national football team‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Thanks to http://www.transfermarkt.com/en/, for player-position details.
Thanks to Soccerway.com, for recent squad line-ups (with positions-on-the-field graphics), at int.soccerway.com/international/europe/wc-qualifying-europe/2014-brazil/1st-round/r15653/.
