The final two rounds of qualifiers for the UEFA Euro 2024 Championship. Italy face North Macedonia in Rome (Stadio Olimpico, 17 November, 20:45 CET) before taking on Ukraine in Leverkusen (BayArena, 20 November 20:45 CET) as they are forced to play abroad because of the war. 

The fight for second place in Group C, which will determine who makes it through to the Final Phase of the Euros, after England already secured qualification in October, is restricted to Ukraine (13 points from 7 matches) and Italy (10 in 6). The meeting between the two teams on the last Matchday will be crucial. If the Azzurri can take three points from the meeting in Rome with North Macedonia, a draw will be enough to qualify, having the advantage after winning the first meeting between the teams. A loss or draw in Rome, however, would mean a win is needed at the BayArena. 

For the next two matches, Head Coach, Luciano Spalletti, had called up 29 players, including new additions Andrea Cambiaso, Juventus defender and Andrea Colpani, Monza midfielder, as well as returns to the squad for Alessandro Buongiorno and Jorginho. After the last round of domestic matches, however, Meret, Calabria and Toloi, the latter two called up for the first time by Spalletti, were forced to drop out of the squad after suffering injuries. 

The group met yesterday evening at the Coverciano Federal Training Centre, where they will remain until Thursday when they transfer to Rome; from there, immediately after the game, the Azzurri will return to Florence. They will then fly from Florence to Leverkusen on Sunday. 

THE MATCHES - Meetings with North Macedonia and Ukraine have a relatively short history since the countries only became independent in the 1990s: 4 matches as of now against North Macedonia, never beaten in Italy and the architects of Italy’s elimination from the playoff for the 2022 World Cup. Italy have faced Ukraine on 9 occasions, against whom we have never lost. We have also faced them in Germany before, in the Quarter Final of the 2006 World Cup, in Hamburg (3-0 victory). This will be the National Team’s 64th match in Rome, the city that has hosted the Azzurri on most occasions, and the 53rd at the Stadio Olimpico after 11 matches at the Stadio Nazionale PNF. The Roman fans will offer a warm welcome to the team like always: at the moment, over 30,000 tickets have been sold and it is expected to be sold out by Friday. This will be the first time playing in Leverkusen, the 13th German city to host the Azzurri, after Hamburg, Berlin (also whilst it was split East and West), Cologne, Dortmund, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Kaiserslautern, Leipzig, Munich and Mönchengladbach.

The Squad | November 2023

Nr PLAYER CLUB Date of birth CAPS GOALS
GOALKEEPERS
	Gianluigi DONNARUMMA	PSG	25/02/99	58	-46
	Ivan PROVEDEL	LAZIO	17/03/94	0	0
	Guglielmo VICARIO	TOTTENHAM	07/10/96	0	0
DEFENDERS
	Francesco ACERBI	INTER	10/2/88	32	1
	Alessandro BASTONI	INTER	13/04/99	21	1
	Alessandro BUONGIORNO	TORINO	6/6/99	1	0
	Andrea CAMBIASO	JUVENTUS	2/2/00	0	0
	Matteo DARMIAN	INTER	02/12/89	39	1
	Giovanni DI LORENZO	NAPOLI	04/08/93	31	3
	Federico DIMARCO	INTER	10/11/97	14	2
	Federico GATTI	JUVENTUS	24/6/98	2	0
MIDFIELDERS
	Nicolò BARELLA	INTER	07/02/97	49	8
	Giacomo BONAVENTURA	FIORENTINA	22/08/89	16	1
	Andrea COLPANI	MONZA	11/5/99	0	0
	Bryan CRISTANTE	ROMA	03/03/95	36	2
	Davide FRATTESI	INTER	22/09/99	9	4
	JORGINHO Frello Filho Jorge Luiz	ARSENAL	20/12/91	48	5
	Manuel LOCATELLI	JUVENTUS	08/01/98	26	3
FORWARDS
	Domenico BERARDI	SASSUOLO	1/08/94	27	8
	Federico CHIESA	JUVENTUS	25/10/97	42	5
	Stephan EL SHAARAWY	ROMA	27/10/92	30	6
	Moise KEAN	JUVENTUS	28/2/00	14	4
	Matteo POLITANO	NAPOLI	3/8/93	11	3
	Giacomo RASPADORI	NAPOLI	18/02/00	22	5
	Gianluca SCAMACCA	ATALANTA	1/1/99	13	1
	Nicolò ZANIOLO	ASTON VILLA	02/07/99	15	2

 

The Schedule of Activities | November 2023

 

DATE	TIME	ACTIVITY	LOCATION
Sunday 12 November		Players meeting	CTF Coverciano
Monday 13 November	12.30	Azzurri Partner Day	CTF Coverciano
	13.45	Press conference- Head Coach	CTF Coverciano
	15.20	Training (open to the Media)	CTF Coverciano
	18.30	Hall of Fame of Italian football	CTF Coverciano
Tuesday 14 November	13.30	Press Conference - PLAYERS	CTF Coverciano
	15.00	Training (first 15' open to the media)	CTF Coverciano
	15.00	Day at Coverciano for the winners of the 'I come from sport' contest	CTF Coverciano
Wednesday 15  November	15.30	Training (closed)	CTF Coverciano
Thursday 16  November	10.30	Training (first 15' open to the Media)	CTF Coverciano
	15.00	Transfer from Florence to Rome
	17.30	National team delegation visit to 'Bambino Gesù' Pediatric Hospital	Bambino Gesù - Gianicolo
	18.00	NORTH MACEDONIA  press conference	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
	19.00	NORD MACEDONIA training (first 15' open to the media)	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
	19.30	ITALY Press conference	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Friday 17  November	20.45	ITALY vs NORTH MACEDONIA (EQ, Matchday 9)	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
	Press conference and return to Coverciano following the match
Saturday 18  November	15.30	Training (closed)	CTF Coverciano
Sunday 19 November	10.00	ITALY training (first 15' open to the media)	CTF Coverciano
	16.15	Transfer from Florence to Leverkusen	BayArena, Leverkusen
	16.30	UKRAINE press conference	BayArena, Leverkusen
	17.00	UKRAINE training(first 15' open to the Media)	BayArena, Leverkusen
	18.30	ITALY Stadium walk around	BayArena, Leverkusen
	18.45	ITALY press conference	BayArena, Leverkusen
Monday 20 November	20.45	UKRAINE vs ITALY (EQ, Matchday 10)	BayArena, Leverkusen
	Press conference and return to respective locations (Milan, Rome) following the match