The National Under 17s team, having arrived in Budapest on the evening of Monday 15 May, continue to work towards their first Group B game, scheduled for Thursday 18 at 20:00 CEST at the BSC Stadium in Budaörs against Spain. On the morning of Tuesday 16, the Azzurrini, together with the staff, posed for the official photos, followed by their first study session in Budapest with Prof. Stefano Presciutti, the school tutor who, by virtue of the agreement between the FIGC and the University of Rome Foro Italico, supports the young players in their studies during such long trips. The project 'High performance on the field but also on the school desks' promotes a synergy between the profile of scholastic and cultural preparation and the competitive sports preparation of the young players called up by the National Teams, thanks to which, alongside the sporting-competitive aspects, maximum attention is given to the socio-cultural ones.

"I am satisfied and proud to be part of this project," emphasises Prof. Presciutti, project coordinator for the University of Rome Foro Italico, "and I am happy about this collaboration with the Italian Football Federation, which, in addition to its strong cultural value, will allow significant training stages to be pursued by those who have reached levels of excellence in sport. The boys are committed and satisfied with the project because it helps them in their schooling and allows them not to fall too far behind with the programme. On top of that, many times, they have asked me for extra hours."

Coach Bernardo Corradi's 20 players, 17 of whom were born in 2006 and three in 2007 (Matteo Cocchi of Inter, Mattia Liberali of AC Milan and Giorgio Vezzosi of Sassuolo), trained on Tuesday afternoon (16 June) in preparation for the group opener against Spain on Thursday 17 at 20:00 CEST at the BSC Stadium in Budaörs, Serbia on Sunday 21 at 20:00 CEST at the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in Budapest and Slovenia on Wednesday 24 at 17:00 CEST at the Telki Training Centre in Telki.

The quarter-finals, for which the top two teams from each of the four four-team groups will qualify, are scheduled for Saturday 27th, the semi-finals and the play-off for the World Cup (which will see the two teams knocked out in the quarter-finals against the best teams from the group stage in a play-off) on Tuesday 30th, while the final is scheduled for Friday 2nd June. The four semi-finalists plus the winner of the World Cup play-off will qualify for the Under-17s World Cup scheduled from 10 November to 2 December.

The European Championship will officially start on Wednesday 17 at 16:30 CEST with two matches, Poland vs. Ireland and Scotland vs. France, while at 20:00 CEST it will be the turn of hosts Hungary, who will face Wales at the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in Budapest.

The Squad

Goalkeepers: Tommaso Martinelli (Fiorentina), Francesco Plaia (Spezia);
Defenders: Alessandro Bassino (Juventus), Matteo Cocchi (Inter), Vittorio Magni (AC Milan), Filippo Pagnucco (Juventus), Gabriel Ramaj (Atalanta), Edoardo Sadotti (Fiorentina), Giorgio Vezzosi (Sassuolo);
Midfielders: Francesco Crapisto (Juventus), Giacomo De Pieri (Inter), Mattia Mannini (Roma), Leonardo Mendicino (Atalanta), Lorenzo Riccio (Atalanta), Marco Romano (Genoa)
Attackers: Seydou Fini (Genoa), Mattia Liberali (AC Milan), Federico Ragnoli Galli (Atalanta), Emanuele Rao (SPAL), Tommaso Ravaglioli (Bologna).

Schedule

Group B: Serbia, Spain, ITALY, Slovenia

Matchday 1 (Thursday 18 May)
Serbia vs. Slovenia (17:00 CEST, Telki Training Centre in Telki)
ITALY vs. Spain (20:00 CEST, BSC Stadium in Budaörs)

Matchday 2 (Sunday 21 May)
Spain vs. Slovenia (16:30 CEST, Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in Budapest)
Serbia vs. ITALY (20:00 CEST, Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in Budapest)

Matchday 3 (Wednesday 24 May)
Spain vs. Serbia (17:00 CEST, BSC Stadium in Budaörs)
Slovenia vs. ITALY (17:00 CEST, Telki Training Centre in Telki)

Quarter-finals (Saturday 27 May)

Semi-finals (Tuesday 30 May)

Final (Friday 2 June)