Roberto Mancini’s side will begin their qualifying journey for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in Parma: at 20:45 CET on Thursday 25 March, the Azzurri will face Northern Ireland at the Stadio Ennio Tardini. It’ll be Italy’s fist fixture of 2021 and precede two away fixtures against Bulgaria and Lithuania on 28 and 31 March respectively.

The National Team have played in Parma on seven occasions (six wins and a defeat) and will be making a return for the first time in two years: on 26 Match 2019, the Azzurri ran out 6-0 winners against Liechtenstein in Euro 2020 qualifying.

Unbeaten in 22 fixtures (17 wins and five draws), Italy are set to face Northern Ireland for the tenth time in their history. So far, the Azzurri’s record against their next opponents reads as follows: seven victories, two draws and a single defeat. The 2-1 loss in January 1958 in Belfast was particularly damaging, however, given that resulted in Italy missing out on the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.