The Italian national team returns to Naples after 10 years: on 23 March, the 'Diego Armando Maradona' stadium will host the Italy vs. England match, the first game of the UEFA EURO 2024 qualifiers. For the occasion, the city will be tinged with blue to welcome coach Roberto Mancini's players, arriving from Coverciano the night before: from the afternoon of 21 March, at around 6 p.m. until dawn the next day, and again on the following two evenings (22 and 23), the City of Naples - on the instructions of the mayor Gaetano Manfredi - will light up two of the city's iconic landmarks in blue, the Maschio Angioino and the Fountain of Neptune in Piazza Municipio.

Upon arrival at the Central Station on Wednesday 22 March, a delegation of the national team led by FIGC president Gabriele Gravina and composed of members of the technical staff and players will also visit the 'Santobono' Children's Hospital in Naples. The Azzurri will visit the neuro-surgery, neurology, neuro-psychiatry and neuro-oncology wards to donate balls, scarves and other items of the national team to the young patients. The visit follows a path undertaken for years by the FIGC, which has led the national team to meet patients in paediatric hospitals in the cities hosting the matches. The pre-match will also include the two official team conferences at the stadium: at 6.45 pm Mancini, at 8 pm Southgate, while the last training session is scheduled on the morning of 22 March for both national teams at their respective technical centres, Coverciano and St. George's Park. At the end of the press conference reserved for Italy, the Mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi will present the medals of the City to president Gravina, coach Mancini and the captain of the Azzurri in the match.

In this match, among other things, Italy will take to the pitch with a special shirt, on which will be inserted a memory for Gianluca Vialli, former player of the national team who passed away last 6 January, leaving a huge void in the big Azzurri family, in which, after having been a star as a player, he had become an example, a point of reference off the field and a friend for all the members of the team and staff. In March 2018, exactly five years ago, the phrase 'Davide sempre con noi 13' (Davide always with us 13) was placed on the jersey, in memory of Davide Astori, another Azzurri who died suddenly on the eve of the friendlies with Argentina and England.

At the stadium there will be a series of activities to involve the public, to create the best atmosphere for a game that less than two years ago decided the European Championships at Wembley; precisely at the 'Maradona', among other things, the brand theme of the Italian national football teams will also make its official debut alongside the Azzurri. Presented on 2 January together with the new scudetto logo, it is a true musical system, articulated in various elements: the sound logo, which in 3" sums up the passion for the Azzurri and the Azzurre, the declinations for the various physical and digital touchpoints, up to the full track, entitled 'Azzurri', composed and produced by Enrico Giaretta and Maurizio D'Aniello and enriched by the voice of soprano Susanna Rigacci. Another debut in this competition is that of Oscar, the mascot of the national team, a puppy of a Maremmano-Abruzzese shepherd with a tender and kind face designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who passed away in 2012, a true master of cinematic special effects, for which he was awarded three Academy Awards.

In the stands there will be a special representation related to football activities in the city: in fact, the FIGC has invited some of the participants in two social projects promoted by the Pontifical Scholas Occurrentes Foundation in Naples, implemented in collaboration with the FIGC Youth and School Sector. On the one hand, a group of educators and children involved in 'Pelota de Trapo' (rag ball) in the Sanità and Scampia neighbourhoods, which aims to use football, especially among girls, as a means of aggregation, a project in collaboration with 'Play for Change' and 'Università Cattolica di Milano'; on the other, some boys from the Nisida juvenile institute who took part in the 'Zona Luce' project, an educational and training pathway, which involves prison police officers, inmates of the juvenile prison and sports staff of local clubs. Finally, the presence at the 'Maradona' of around 2,000 members of the Neapolitan football clubs affiliated with the FIGC is expected.

During the match, the FIGC will launch the 'United by the same colours' campaign, promoted since 2022 on the international day for the elimination of racial discrimination (21 March), on the big screen and on the advertising boards on the sidelines.