After the away wins over World Cup runners-up, France, and Israel that secured us top spot in the Nations League group, Italy will try to extend their points lead by making the most of a home advantage: we face Belgium in Rome on Thursday 10 October and Israel in Udine on Monday 14. 

This will be the Azzurri’s 65th time playing in Rome, the city where they have played most frequently (Milan 61, Turin 40): the tally counts 39 wins (same as in Milan where we have played three fewer games), 18 draws and 7 defeats; 120 goals scored (Italy have only done better in Milan, 143), and 50 conceded. So far, we have faced 34 different opponents in the capital: Switzerland 6 times, this will be the second time against Belgium, and only Finland and the Rest-of-Europe XI have kept a clean sheet.

Of the 64 games held in Rome, the Stadio Olimpico has hosted 53: the first of which being in May 1953 (0-3 vs. Hungary). We’ve totalled 32 wins, 14 draws and 7 defeats. Pre-dating the Olimpico and with a better record was the Stadio Nazionale del PNF: 11 games with 7 wins and 4 draws.

The longest unbeaten run in Rome lasted 17 years: from November 1963 to November 1980, 21 games with 12 wins and 9 draws. The run ended with a 0-3 defeat to the Rest-of-Europe XI in February 1981. Only Argentina has won twice in Rome, Switzerland, England, Hungary, the Rest of Europe and Uruguay have all won once. We had a 7-game long string of good results between 2015 and 2023 with wins over Norway, Greece, Türkiye, Wales and North Macedonia, plus a draw with Switzerland. The last defeat dates back to 2013 when a friendly with Argentina ended 1-2.

Of the 115 goals scored by the Azzurri in Rome, we also count three own-goals: Mai for West Germany (1955), Meeuws for Belgium (1977) and Demiral for Türkiye (2021); in three cases the games ended with an Azzurri win. Individual stats include five hat-tricks scored in Rome: Barison, Paolo Rossi, Riva, Schiavio, Enrico Chiesa; nine braces, two for Conti L. and Meazza, one each for Bettega, Federico Chiesa, Graziani, Locatelli and Orsi. The top goalscorers in Rome are Giuseppe Meazza and Gigi Riva (6), followed by Graziani, Orsi and Paolo Rossi (5). In total, 69 players have scored in the capital, coming from 21 clubs: 28 goals have been scored by Juventus players, 18 by Inter players and 11 by Roma players. 55 Azzurri have made their debut in Rome including Gentile, Baggio, Altobelli, Anastasi; the most recent (2001), were Pierini and C. Zenoni.

In Udine, the Italian National Team are unbeaten: the nine previous games count 7 wins and 2 draws with 15 goals scored and 2 conceded. Insigne, De Rossi and Del Piero have all scored twice with Del Piero playing his last international game in Udine on 10 September 2008: they are also the top goalscorers in the Friuli city. 10 years before Del Piero retired, in 1998, Totti made his debut here. In recent years, Bernadeschi and Jorginho (2016) and Lorenzo Pellegrini (2017) celebrated their first game for the Azzurri in Udine.