After some excellent results on show in the last few months, the male youth team squads are ready to start off their new season. Club Italia has today officially announced who will lead the six youth teams from the Under 20s to the Under 15s, including Carmine Nunziata, Alberto Bollini, Daniele Franceschini, Bernardo Corradi, Daniele Zoratto and Massimiliano Favo. They, alongside the other members of the backroom staff for each age group, will all meet up at Coverciano at the beginning of August for a meeting with coordinator Maurizio Viscidi. The main news is that of Carmine Nunziata, who has moved to the Under 20s team after leading the Under 19s to a semi-final place at the Under 19 European Championships that gave them qualification to the World Cup in Indonesia in May 2023. Taking his place in the Under 19 role is Alberto Bollini, who will guide a new group of players in another European campaign. 

Also confirmed amongst the group of coaches are Andrea Barzagli and 'new entry' Emanuele Giaccherini, who will both work together in the varying age groups with the aim of supporting the technical staff and providing the young players their insight, knowledge and experiences in wearing the Azzurri shirt.

Among the news for the 2022/23 season, there is a further strengthening between connecting the youth teams and the men's senior team to allow a faster and seamless transition for the most promising Italian talent to move between the Under groups and the first team. After Coach Mancini's experiment at the end of May, that saw 53 promising young talents, divided into two groups, take part in some training sessions, the 2022/2026 programme organised and scheduled will take on two paths: on one side, Coach Mancini will continue to organise sessions with youngsters from Serie A to Serie C, and even Primavera players, thanks to the partnership established between the FIGC and League organisers in widening the talent pool available; on the other side, a series of meetings between Mancini and the youth team Head Coaches, led by Viscidi, will be set up to exchange ideas, experiences and technical assessments. Some of the youth setup's Head Coaches will also be involved in first team camps in order to work together with Coach Mancini's staff.

2022/23 schedule. The upcoming 2022/23 season is expected to be a busy one for the Azzurrini. The Under 21 squad closed their European qualification campaign top of the group gaining a place in the finals in Georgia and Romania, that will be played from 21 June to 8 July in Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Batumi, Kutaisi e Tbilisi (play-offs to take place in September then the draw on 18 October in Bucharest). Then, there is the most followed tournament in youth football, the FIFA Under 20 World Cup, that will take place in Indonesia in May 2023. After a long absence from the competition, that sees the best young global talent on show, Italy have finished third and fourth in the last two editions and will once again be one of the 24 teams competing. The Under 19 and 17 teams are waiting to kick off their 2022/23 European campaigns: the Under 19s will go to Poland from 21 to 27 September to face the hosts, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia in their group games with the top two entering the Elite phase, where seven places up for grabs for the finals in Malta; and the Under 17s play in Kosovo from 5 to 11 October with group games against the hosts, Finland and Greece, with the top two qualifying for the Elite phase, again with seven places available for the finals in Hungary. The Under 16s and 18s, who don't have any official competitive games scheduled, will take part in some international friendly tournaments and games in order to form a base squad for the following year's commitments. The youngest squad in the setup, the Under 15s, will start up as always with a series of selection trials across the various geographical regions in the country in order to create a squad for the tournament of Nations in Gradisca in the springtime.

The first teams to get back to action in the new season, after the Under 20s were defeated by Poland in their first 2022/23 Elite League game in June, are the Under 18 and 19 teams, who will face their Albanian counterparts on 10 and 11 August. The Under 16 and 17s, meanwhile, will have two games against Switzerland, first at Novarello Training Centre and then in Mendrisio, Switzerland, on 23 and 25 August, respectively (for all the teams fixtures, click here).

Viscidi: “More attention on forwards”. The youth teams' reached goals and success in recent years has confirmed the quality within the system and the vital work the Federation and Club Italia is doing. It is not by chance that Italy are the only country to have taken two squads to the finals of the last three European Under 19 and 17 editions, finishing fourth in both UEFA rankings for their age group. It is also worth mentioning the Under 20s' win in the Elite League (a self-governing tournament made up of eight participating federations) and the Under 15s in the Nations tournament, as well as the silver medal for Daniele Franceschini's Under 18 squad at the Mediterranean Games, who unluckily lost out to France in the final.

The youth setup's coordinator Maurizio Viscidi talks about the season ahead: "Like always, it will be born out of the previous season's work, which was extremely positive for us. Nicolato did a great job in getting us through European qualification, as did Nunziata, who will carry on his work with the players born in 2003 after winning a place in the World Cup finals. For the third consecutive year, Italy will take part in the Under 20 World Cup finals, which is a record for the Federation. Bollini also obtained some impressive results in the Elite League and his change is certainly not a demotion, on the contrary, in fact. Franceschini, Corradi, Zoratto e Favo have also earned their renewals".

After a successful few years, the coordinator is now looking ahead and isn't shying away from the issues, including a shortage of strikers: "We're really pleased with what we have achieved, we need to keep looking at bringing through players who are ready for Coach Mancini, but this doesn't only depend on us but rather on the workings of the Italian football system, in which president Gravina is working comprehensively at. We will put further focus on forwards because it's clear there's been a lack of quality in the striking department for a while".

THE MALE YOUTH TEAM HEAD COACHES FOR THE 2022/2023 SEASON

Youth Teams Coordinator: Maurizio Viscidi
Under 21: Paolo Nicolato
Under 20: Carmine Nunziata
Under 19: Alberto Bollini
Under 18: Daniele Franceschini
Under 17: Bernardo Corradi
Under 16: Daniele Zoratto
Under 15: Massimiliano Favo

For information about all the Male teams click here