At 16 years, 2 months, and 26 days old, Francesco Camarda, the forward of the Italy Under 17's is the youngest (in age) and, at the same time, the biggest (in terms of football) among Massimiliano Favo's Italy squad. In just a few hours (19:30, live on Rai 2 and UEFA TV), they will face Portugal in the final of the European Championship at the Limassol Stadium. It's Italy's fourth final in history, following those lost in 2013, 2018, and 2019.

© figc.it

The AC Milan forward confessed: "No one could have imagined we'd come this far, because in the first qualifying phase (in Emilia-Romagna), we didn't manage to perform at our best, something we, fortunately, achieved both in the elite phase and in this final phase." This final phase has crowned him as one of the rising stars of this edition, thanks to his 2 goals in 4 matches: "If I managed to stand out," emphasised the 2008-born player, "the credit goes to my teammates, who put me in a position to do so". Teammates with whom he shared a goal since the beginning of the season, which, for Italian football, would be historic: "All year long, we've been working together with the coach and the staff to reach this match. Winning would be a dream".

Born on March 10, 2008, in Milan to father Manuel and mother Federica, he started playing football at the age of 5 in Afforese, a Lombard amateur club ("my cousin Christian played there, and almost all my friends too"), before joining the youth sector of AC Milan in the summer of 2015 ("I played practically in every position before being played as a forward"). Wearing the Rossoneri jersey, where he scored over 500 goals in the youth teams, he won his first, and so far only, trophy: The Under 15 Serie A e B 2021/2022 championship (together with national teammates Liberali and Sala). This season, where he made a total of 41 appearances, scored 13 goals, and provided 5 assists for the Rossoneri Primavera, he came close to making history in the Youth League final (Olympiacos 3-0 AC Milan on 22 April). Even earlier at San Siro, he rewrote Serie A history by becoming the youngest debutant of all time at 15 years, 8 months, and 15 days old (AC Milan 1-0 Fiorentina 25 November). Who knows, today in Cyprus, the 'little' Camarda might become even 'bigger' by writing another immensely important page of our football history.

UEFA European Under-17 Championship

Group Phase

Group A: Cyprus, Ukraine, Serbia and Czechia.
Group B: Denmark, Austria, Croatia and Wales.
Group C: ITALY, Sweden, Slovakia and Poland.
Group D: France, Portugal, Spain and England.

Group C schedule

Matchday 1 (Tuesday 21 May)
Slovakia 0-0 Sweden
ITALY 2-0 Poland

Matchday 2 (Friday 24 May)
ITALY 2-0 Slovakia
Sweden 2-2 Poland

Matchday 3 (Monday 27 May)
Sweden 1-2 ITALY
Poland 4-0 Slovakia

Table: ITALY 9 points, Poland 4, Sweden 2, Slovakia 1.

Knockout stages

Quarter-finals

Wednesday 29 May

Q1) Czechia 1-1 Denmark 1-1 (3-5 on penalties)
Q2) Austria 2-3 Serbia

Thursday 30 May

Q3) Italy 1-1 England (5-4 on penalties)
Q4) Portugal 2-1 Poland

Semi-finals (Sunday 2 June)

S1) Denmark 0-1 ITALY
S2) Serbia 2-3 Portugal

Final (Wednesday 5 June)

20:30 local time (19:30 CEST): ITALY vs. Portugal, Limassol Stadium in Limassol