Two very significant people in Azzurri history were born on the 1st of April.

In 1954, Giancarlo Antognoni was born in Marsciano, in the province of Perugia. An authentic symbol of Florentine football, he played with La Viola for fifteen seasons, setting the appearance record and winning one Coppa Italia in 1975. If it is 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, is one of the great protagonists of the 1982 World Cup triumph in Spain, despite the bitterness of having had to miss the Madrid final against Germany due to injury. In nine years with the Azzurri, he recorded 73 appearances and scored seven goals. After having also been Head of the Under 21 team, he currently holds the Footballing Director 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, an Italian Super Cup, two European Cups, two European Super Cups, and two Intercontinental Cups with his ‘Immortal’ AC Milan, becoming one of the most decorated coaches in history and a reputed supporter of football’s last tactical evolution. With the national team, on the other hand, the Romagna coach was stopped eleven metres from 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 play the role of Technical Coordinator for all the national youth teams and, in 2011, he joined the Italian Football Hall of Fame.