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The Azzurrini’s success at the Under 19 European Championships, 20 years on after their last triumph there, rounded off the 2022/23 season in the best possible way and, at the same, symbolically representing a new chapter in Club Italia’s coaching strategy.

Starting off from an analysis of results and experiences gained over the course of last season, and from what emerged in the one previous to that, the FIGC has set out, based on a coaching proposal by Head Coach Roberto Mancini, its new organisational structure for the Men’s National teams, (First Team to the Under 15s), with the aim of promoting Italian football, putting the already exisiting professionalism present in Club Italia in a place to contribute to reaching ambitious targets for all the national sides; support the development of young talent and facilitate the continuing and constant transition through to the senior team.

“We’re bringing life to a new phase of Club Italia: an evolution, not a revolution,” declared FIGC president Gabriele Gravina, “because we have new ideas to build on from some guarantees of our coaching project. Club Italia is a success story, the numbers tell us that from 2018 up to now, but to stay at the top and become even better, change is necessary. We need to explore new paths and know when to embrace the ever-changing international footballing world. We have done this with a coherent project that reaffirms the opportunity to work as one complete network, with the only aim to develop and bring through talented footballers. I thank everyone who are not with the organisation anymore but have contributed to all our success over the years, and I hope all the new Coaches and collaborators can leave their mark on the Azzurri.”

Forming the basis of the promises, Roberto Mancini will take on the role of selection and coaching activities for the First Team, Under 21 and 20s: linking up these squads will allow the same principles and style of play to be applied on the field of play, supporting and quickening up technical learning. With this in mind, the respective staff have been selected that will allow them to work together, both on and off the pitch, integrating different skillsets and experiences gained at Clubs and the Azzurri’s Youth teams. Starting with the Men’s First Team, people with specific characteristics have been identified to provide the squad with a deeper knowledge of the technical-tactical aspect.

Alongside the Head Coach, in what can be amounted to as being a kind of Coordinated Coaching Management team in supporting young talent, will be Maurizio Viscidi. He will be involved on two fronts: on one side, he will coordinate the squads from Under 15 to Under 19 levels, continuing the excellent work done in bringing through generations of Azzurrini players since 2010; on the other side, he will contribute to integrating the older Youth team squads -  the Under 20s and 21s - with the First Team, providing the link between the two pathways, following some extraordinary experiences and skills gained this past decade in nurturing and developing young talent. 

Men's First Team News

Numerous changes have been made in the Azzurri staff, with those leaving and those moving at the Under 21 and Under 20 level. Only Fausto Salsano has been confirmed out of the Head Coach's four assistants, who will now work with Alberto Bollini, fresh from his Under-19 European Champions winning side, 2006 World Cup winner Andrea Barzagli, who will pay particular attention to the defensive side of the game, and the return of Antonio Gagliardi, as a tactical specialist.

Barzagli is back with the National side after just less than six years, and his 73rd and final appearance (13 November 2017 on that fateful night in Milan in the 2018 World Cup playoff loss to Sweden). In his Azzurri trophy cabinet though is: 2006 World Cup winner's medal, Euro 2012 runner-up, Under 21 Euros and a Bronze medal at the Olympics, both in 2004. Since 2021/22 season, he has been part of Club Italia's coaching team working with various youth team squads.

Instead, Gagliardi was the Azzurri's match analyst from 2012 to 2021, leaving the National side at the beginning of the 2020/21 season to follow Andrea Pirlo to Juventus. He did return briefly to be part of the backroom squad during Euro 2020.

Massimo Battara (Goalkeeping coach), Simone Contran (Match Analyst), Claudio Donatelli and Andrea Scanavino (Fitness coachesi) are all confirmed, while Valter Di Salvo will not team up with national side but continue to manage Club Italia's Area Performance department.

Alberico Evani says goodbye after joining Club Italia in 2010, when he took on the role of leading the Under 18, Under 19 and Under 20 sides (he led the latter to 3rd place at the 2015 World Cup in South Korea) before stepping up to the First Team in August 2017 - first under Ventura and then Mancini. He also took charge of the Under 21s twice to replace Di Biagio, who was called in as interim Head Coach to the senior team following Ventura's departure, and the First Team three times against Estonia, Poland and Bosnia Herzegovina, to temporarily take over Roberto Mancini who was out for COVID reasons. 

Also leaving is Mauro Sandreani (joined with Antonio Conte in 2014), while Giulio Nuciari leaves his role on the pitch and moves to team up with Venturin in the scouting department.

There are two transfers to the Youth Sector: Attilio Lombardo becomes Head Coach of the Under 20s, being assisted by Marco Scarpa, who was first a scout and then Assistant Head Coach in the First Team.

FIND OUT MORE: FOCUS DEDICATED TO WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

FIRST TEAM: STAFF CHANGES
POSITION	2022/2023	2023/2024
HEAD COACH	MANCINI	MANCINI
ASSISTANT COACH	EVANI LOMBARDO NUCIARI SALSANO	BOLLINI (ASS.) BARZAGLI (DEFENCE) GAGLIARDI (TACTICS) SALSANO
GOALKEEPER COACH	BATTARA	BATTARA
FITNESS COACH	DI SALVO DONATELLI SCANAVINO	DONATELLI SCANAVINO
NUTRITIONIST	PINCELLA	PINCELLA
MATCH ANALYST	CONTRAN SCARPA	CONTRAN
SCOUTS	SANDREANI SCARPA VENTURIN	NUCIARI VENTURIN
TEAM MANAGER	ORIALI	ORIALI
PEDAGOGIST	BERGAMASCHI	BERGAMASCHI

Youth Teams News

Another Head Coach with a long history with Club Italia (2012) will be in the hotseat of the Under 21s, Carmine Nunziata, who has already been with them as a number two with Devis Mangia (2nd place finish at the 2015 Euros) and then with Luigi Di Biagio (2017 and 2019 Euros). Since 2017, he has been leading the Under 17s, where he has taken them to the final of the European Championships for two years running (2018 and 2019), unfortunately losing both times out to the Netherlands (6-3 on penalties and 4-2).

In 2022, he guided the Under 19s just short of another European final, where they were stopped at the semi-fional stage in Israel by England (2-1), but that did earn them a place in the Under 20 World Cup Finals, where in 2023 his Azzurrini were knocked out at the final hurdle in the final by Uruguary (1-0).

As previously mentioned, Attilio Lombardo enters the Under 20 fold, with new entry Francesco Antonioli (goalkeeper), with Marco Scarpa as his assistant. In the other squads, Bernardo Corradi moves up from the U17s to the U19s, Massimiliano Favo from the U15s to the U17s, Daniele Franceschini and Daniele Zoratto have been confirmed with the U18s and U16s, respectively, and with the U15s, under the supervision of Antonio Rocca, Enrico Battisti joins with Bruno Redolfi as his assistant.

CLUB ITALIA - MEN'S NATIONAL YOUTH TEAMS 2023/24
POSITION	U 21	U 20	U 19	U 18	U 17	U 16	U 15
COACHING COORDINATOR	ROBERTO MANCINI		MAURIZIO VISCIDI
HEAD COACH	NUNZIATA	LOMBARDO	CORRADI	FRANCESCHINI	FAVO	ZORATTO	BATTISTI
ASSISTANT COACH	BRIGHI / FILIPPINI	SCARPA	GASPARETTO	BATTISTI	BARELLA	CEI	REDOLFI
GOALKEEPER	FERRON	ANTONIOLI	VINTI		QUIRONI	CAPODICI	ROCCATI
PERFORMANCE	AZZONE	VARESCO	MONTINI		ZAMUNER	COPPARI	BOSSI

NB: new staff arrivals in red

23/24 season: youth teams' schedules

Placed into Group A with Latvia, Turkey, Norway, San Marino and Rep. Of Ireland, the Under 21s will start their route to Euro 2025 in Slovakia with qualification games away to Latvia and Turkey (8 and 12 September).

Instead, the Under 20s, as tradition, have the Eight Nations tournament with their opening games expected to be trips to Germany and Czech Republic. The Under 19s start their European defence in November (Qualifying round in Sweden against the hosts, Switzerland and Liechtenstein). To get ready for that, they have friendlies against Albania on 9 August (Coverciano), 7 and 11 September with Rep. Of Ireland and the Netherlands, respectively (in Prato). The Under 17s begin their European adventure in October (Qualifying round at home in Group 11 with Greece, Northern Ireland and San Marino), with two friendlies on 22 and 24 August against Slovenia before the competition starts in Germany from 4 to 13 September.

The Under 18 and 16s are not involved in any official competitions and will therefore take part in a number of friendlies: the 18s against Serbia and the Netherlands in September (Tirrenia), and the 16s with a double test against England in August (at Coverciano) and Spain in September (away). To end, the Under 15s will start their national selection process in the coming months, with the traditional Nations Tournament taking place in spring. Following that, there will be games in August and September.

MEN'S NATIONAL YOUTH TEAM SCHEDULE: AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2023
NR	DATE	CAT	MATCH	FIXTURE	PLACE	TIME
1	09/08	U19	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. ALBANIA	Coverciano	17.30
2	22/08	U17	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. SLOVENIA	Gradisca	18.00
3	22/08	U16	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. ENGLAND	Coverciano	17.30
4	24/08	U17	FRIENDLY	SLOVENIA vs. ITALY	Aidussina	10.30
5	24/08	U16	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. INGHILTERRA	Coverciano	10.30
6	from 4 to 13/09	U17	TOURNAMENT (3 group games)	ITALY, GERMANY, ISRAEL	Cologne	TBC
7	07/09	U19	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. NORTHERN IRELAND	Prato	16.30
8	07/09	U18	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. SERBIA	Tirrenia	16.30
9	07/09	U20	8 NATIONS TOURNAMENT	GERMANY vs. ITALY	TBC	TBC
10	08/09	U21	EURO U21 QUALIFICATION	ESTONIA vs. ITALY	Jurmala	TBC
11	10/09	U18	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. THE NETHERLANDS	Tirrenia	16.30
12	11/09	U19	FRIENDLY	ITALY vs. THE NETHERLANDS	Prato	16.30
13	11/09	U20	8 NATIONS TOURNAMENT	CZECH REPUBLIC vs. ITALY	Tabor	17.00
14	12/09	U21	EURO U21 QUALIFICATION	TURKEY vs. ITALY	Sakarya	TBC
15	19/09	U16	FRIENDLY	SPAIN vs. ITALY	TBC	TBC
16	21/09	U16	FRIENDLY	SPAIN vs. ITALY	TBC	TBC