The head-to-head with England

There are 29 previous meetings between Italy and England, with the history books favouring the Azzurri: ten Italian wins, eight for England and eleven draws, the last of which was a 0-0 draw in the first Nations League encounter. Italy are unbeaten in five matches against England (1 win and 4 draws) and have equalled their longest unbeaten streak against the English, between June 1980 and February 1997 (four wins and one draw).

The first ever meeting dates back to 14 November 1934: the Three Lions faced the FIFA World Champions, in a tournament in which England had chosen not to take part. The match went down in history with the Azzurri earning the nickname 'Lions of Highbury': Italy were defeated 3-2 after being down by three goals at the end of the first half and missing a player due to Monti's injury, but in the second half they came close to an historic comeback. Another 40 years went by before the first Azzurri victory: on 14 June 1973, the game took place in Turin and ended 2-0, with goals from Anastasi and Capello. Soon after, the first away victory came: on November 14 1973, the Azzurri conquered Wembley for the first time thanks to a goal by Fabio Capello.

Italy have always beaten England in the final stages of World Cups or European Championships. There have been five previous meetings, the first of which took place in 1980 during the European Championship in Italy: a 1-0 win thanks to Tardelli's goal. Once again in Italy, in the third-place play-off at Italia '90, the Azzurri won 2-1 in Bari. More recently, the last three matches have gone our way: in 2012, in the quarter-finals of the European Championships, Italy went through on penalties after finishing 0-0 at the end of extra time; in 2014 it ended 2-1 in the first match of the Brazil World Cup group (last win in 90 minutes); and another victory on penalties in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley after ending 1-1 in extra time.

There are 236 Azzurri who have faced England: the record number of appearances is topped by Benetti, Causio and Zoff (six, from 1973 to 1980): among those still playing is legend Bonucci (four). Two great English players made their debuts playing against Italy: Wilkins (former AC Milan player) and Barnes, while two others finished their career playing against the Azzurri: Bobby Moore (1973) and Shilton (1990). There have been 18 Azzurri captains in this fixture: five for Facchetti, four for Maldini, two for Bergomi, Buffon, Chiellini and De Rossi, and one for Bonucci. Twenty-seven Azzurri have scored against the English (from 32 goals scored in total): two goals for Brighenti, Capello, Meazza, Graziani and Montella. The latter two scored a brace. On the other hand there have been 29 English goalscorers (scoring 34 goals) – two goals for Brook, Channon, Finney, Hitchens and Lawton.

Only one person has been sent off in the history of this match: Di Livio in 1997 (two yellows), while five penalties have been awarded: four for Italy (goals by Altobelli, Schillaci, Montella and Insigne), and one for England (Ceresoli saved Brook's spot-kick). For Southgate, it will be his third match against the Azzurri (the English coach with the most matches is Winterbottom, with five between 1948 and 1961).

The head-to-head with Hungary

There have been as many as 35 encounters between Italy and Hungary, which was a classic fixture until after the Second World War, when the Magyars fought the Azzurri for the World Cup (the 1938 World Cup Final ended Italy 4-2 Hungary in Paris) and International Cups, making it a great European fixture the two world wars. The head-to-head sees 17 Italian victories (the last in Cesena in the first match), 9 draws and 9 Hungarian wins (65 goals to 57). Against Hungary, Italy suffered their worst ever defeat: 1-7 in 1924 (our best victory was 5-0 in 1930). The first confrontation with Magyar football was also one to forget: in 1910, after the first match against France. There were two World Cup meetings: in addition to the 1938 final, there was the Mar del Plata match in 1978, with victories for the Azzurri in both cases. With Marco Rossi on the Hungarian bench, it will be the 17th game with a national team led by an Italian coach: previously, it happened with Franco Varrella and Giorgio Leoni (San Marino), Cristian Panucci, Gianni De Biasi (Albania, 2 times), Alberto Zaccheroni (Japan), Ghedin (Malta, 4 times), Foni (Switzerland), and Trapattoni (Ireland, 4 times).

The last victory for Italy was in the first match in June 2022 in Cesena. Hungary last won the first encounter in a group stage in Budapest in 2007: 3-1. In that match, the Italian coach was Roberto Donadoni, who had scored a brace against Hungary in Salerno in 1991 (the same result of 3-1). The Italian attack consisted of Colaussi and Meazza, who scored a hat-trick in 1930 (six), and two goals for the current Head of Delegation Luca Vialli. On the other Molnar scored four (a hat-trick), Puskas and Sarosi I. Among the debutants (32 in total) in Budapest, there was a first game in the Azzurri shirt for Bearzot (1955) and Riva (1965).