Bari, 14 January 2023. In the heart of the stadio 'San Nicola', Elia Caprile has the chance he has been waiting for for years and does not want to let it slip away. "I am standing here, in front of the dressing room, until Gigi Buffon comes out I'm not leaving." His Parma side had just lost a Serie B match 4-0, but Gigi - who has always been Elia's idol - stopped, congratulated him, before exchanging shirts and taking a photo. "I grew up with his story," Caprile told figc.it from the camp of the National Under-21 team. "I never wanted to be anything other than goalkeeper, mine is not a story of a young boy put between the posts because there was no one to do it. I fell in love with this role hearing my father's stories of Garella's Napoli, seeing Zoff's exploits and those of Buffon. My superhero, but who I discovered was an extraordinary person."

A year ago, few people knew Elia Caprile. Born in Verona, brought up in Chievo, then the experience in England with Leeds, where there was a 'guru' like Marcelo Bielsa in the dugout, now Bari after a Serie C season with Pro Patria. "Leeds was a formative experience both on and off the pitch, also to learn a new language," he explains. 'In that team there were great footballers: from Raphinha to Phillips (an Italy opponent in Naples), and then Bielsa in the dugout. As much as there is the idea of 'Loco' around him, he is a top coach. He left me so much on a personal level too: a real man, who talked to us about football, but also about the story of a miner friend of his, who looks down but never loses sight of the light. He talked to us about what it meant for him to live far from home, from his family. And then he would talk to us about dreams."

His own dream, Elia is living with each passing day. "I have been through a period of change: if someone had told me a year ago that I would play as a starter in Bari and in the national team, I would have felt almost fooled. But I've always known where I started from and where I want to go: sacrifices pay off. I have three months of fire ahead of me: with Bari we are in the running to go to Serie A and we want to give it our all until the end, then there is the European Under-21 Championship, where I obviously hope to be." At Bari, the number 1 shirt was not available ("It belonged to Gigi Frattali, the goalkeeper who won the league, I didn't even dare to ask for it)": "I don't particularly like the 12 and 22 numbers, so I chose the number 18, my father's and my girlfriend's birthday". In love with Buffon, but with many other goalkeepers who inspire him: "Growing up, I liked Julio Cesar and Alisson, also Oblak, Ederson, Courtois, Maignan." 

In the summer of 2021, when Italy won the European Championship at Wembley against England, Caprile's Leeds had already rallied. "There were a lot of flags at the training ground like they had already won, they were making fun of me," he recalls. "The day after the final, however, I arrived at the pitch with my chest out. That European Championship was won by the team, but we all felt like European champions in our own small way. Arriving in the national team, then, I had the feeling of living in a big family, and also of being watched by the coach. When it became clear that Provedel would not be able to play, Carnesecchi went to Coverciano. For us, this is an important thing."

Also important to Caprile is family: he wears it on his skin. "I tattooed my parents' and brother's dates of birth onto my arm; my grandfather's on my hand. I like tattoos: I also have some from my experience in England, where I also had to face the covid period alone." And in England he started to fall in love with... the piano: "I play an hour a day and, once a week, I go for lessons. Talking to my mum, she told me that my grandmother, whom I never met, also played it: I see this as a point of connection with her, who would be proud to listen to me. Besides the piano, I follow the NBA a lot and, when we have to go on long journeys, I take a book with me, watch films or listen to podcasts. Broadening my horizons is fundamental." There is a huge horizon in front of Elia Caprile. 


Live streaming. The games against Serbia and Ukraine will be broadcast live on the FIGC website and on the social platforms of the national team (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube e TikTok).

Tickets. Tickets for the game on Monday 27 against Ukraine are available at Vivaticket sale points and online at figc.vivaticket.it and vivaticket.com.

Exhibition in Reggio Calabria. Reggio Calabria will be the venue for the first stage of 'Sfumature d'Azzurro' (Shades of Blue), the new travelling exhibition of the Football Museum that will accompany the home matches of the National Under-21 team in 2023. The exhibition will tell the story of the history and triumphs of the men's senior national team together with those of the Azzurri youth national teams and the Olympic national team, thanks to a selection of memorabilia from the Coverciano Museum collection. The trophy won at the 2006 World Cup in Gemany and the one won at Wembley in 2021 will be displayed. Free admission (click HERE for all info and times).


The squad

Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Bari), Alessandro Sorrentino (Monza), Stefano Turati (Frosinone);
Defenders: Raoul Bellanova (Inter), Andrea Carboni (Venezia), Antonino Gallo (Lecce), Matteo Lovato (Salernitana), Caleb Okoli (Atalanta), Fabiano Parisi (Empoli), Niccolò Pierozzi (Reggina), Lorenzo Pirola (Salernitana), Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), Destiny Iyenoma Udogie (Udinese), Mattia Viti (Nizza), Alessandro Zanoli (Sampdoria);
Midfielders: Edoardo Bove (Roma), Cesare Casadei (Reading), Salvatore Esposito (Spezia), Giovanni Fabbian (Reggina), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Bruno Zapelli (Belgrano);
Attackers: Tommaso Baldanzi (Empoli), Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio), Lorenzo Colombo (Lecce), Samuele Mulattieri (Frosinone), Gaetano Pio Oristanio (Volendam)