Two very significant people in Azzurri history have their birthdays on 1 April.

In 1954, Giancarlo Antognoni was born in Marsciano, in the province of Perugia. An authentic symbol of Florentine football, he played with the Viola for 15 seasons, setting the appearance record and winning one Coppa Italia in 1975. While it's true that he deserved to win more at club level, his most important success came wearing the jersey of the National Team. The talented former attacking midfielder, in fact, was one of the great protagonists of the 1982 World Cup triumph in Spain, despite the bitterness of having had to miss the final against Germany in Msdrid due to injury. In nine years with the Azzurri, he recorded 73 appearances and scored seven goals. After previously occupying the role of Delegation Head of the Under-21 team, he currently holds the Club Manager position at Fiorentina. He has been a member of the Italian Football Hall of Fame since 2018.

Eight years earlier, in 1946, someone who is considered one of the best coaches in the history of football, Arrigo Sacchi, was born in Fusignano, in the province of Ravenna. At club level, he collected a Scudetto, a Supercoppa italiana, two European Cups, two European Super Cups and two Intercontinental Cups with his ‘AC Milan Immortals’, becoming one of the most decorated coaches in history and a driving force in football’s last tactical evolution. With the National Team, on the other hand, he narrowly missed out on glory when the lottery of the penalty shootout went the way of Brazil in the final of the USA '94 World Cup. Sacchi returned to the Federation from 2010 to 2014 to take up the role of Technical Coordinator for all the National Youth Teams and, in 2011, he joined the Italian Football Hall of Fame.