Paolo Nicolato has selected the 23 players who will take part in the final phase of the European Under-21 Championship, scheduled from 21 June to 8 July in Georgia and Romania. Compared to those called up for the meeting held last week at the Centro di Preparazione Olimpica in Tirrenia, the list also includes Bari goalkeeper Elia Caprile and Spezia midfielder Salvatore Esposito, who will play respectively in Sunday's Serie B play-off final with Cagliari and in the Serie A play-off against Verona.Also involved is Inter defender Raoul Bellanova, who came on the pitch on Saturday evening in the Champions League final against Manchester City, and Wilfried Gnonto: the Leeds striker, who is currently playing with Roberto Mancini's national team in the Nations League Finals, will join the group on Monday 19 June.

Placed in Group D, Italy will assemble again tomorrow in Tirrenia to prepare to travel to Cluj, Romania, on Monday 19 June, where they will face France, Switzerland and Norway in the three group matches. The French will be the first opponents of Paolo Nicolato's team, who will make their debut on Thursday 22 June (20.45 CEST, live on Rai 1) at the Cluj Arena. The second match will see the Azzurrini take on Switzerland on Sunday 25 June (18:00 CEST, live on Rai 2), while on Wednesday 28 June (20:45 CEST, live on Rai 1), they will take on Norway.

The 24th edition of the tournament, the second with 16 national teams participating in the final phase, will not only put the title up for grabs, but also three tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

EURO 2023. The final phase of the European Championship will be held from 21 June to 8 July in Georgia and Romania. Romania has already hosted the 1998 edition, while it is a first for Georgia. Eight stadiums will host the event, four from each of the two countries. In Romania, the matches will be played at two venues in Bucharest (Steaua Stadium and Rapid-Giulesti Stadium) and two in Cluj (Cluj Arena and Constantin Radulescu Stadium), while in Georgia the locations will be Tbilisi (Boris Paichadze Stadium and Mikheil Meskhi Stadium), Batumi (Batumi Arena, where the final will also be played) and Kutaisi (Givi Kiladze Stadium). For the second time in history, 16 national teams will participate in the final phase, divided into four groups of four teams. The top two in each group will qualify for the final phase. The tournament will also determine the national teams who qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The top three, plus France, which has already qualified as host country, and England, who cannot participate in the Olympic Games because the IOC does not recognise individual regional federations in the UK, will go to the Olympics. A possible play-off would be played on 7 or 8 July in Bucharest.

THE JOURNEY TO QUALIFICATION. Italy qualified for the final phase of the European Championships by winning Group F, finishing undefeated 5 and 6 points ahead of the Republic of Ireland and Sweden, respectively. After three consecutive wins against Luxembourg (3-0), Montenegro (1-0) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1-2), the Azzurrini's winning streak was interrupted in Monza with Sweden: Prica answered Lucca's goal in the second half, stopping Italy at 1-1.

The journey promptly resumed in Dublin, with a 2-0 win over the Republic of Ireland thanks to goals from Lucca and Cancellieri. After the 1-1 draw with Montenegro in Podgorica, two more victories came against Bosnia in Trieste (1-0) and Luxembourg in Differdange (0-3). Then the second 1-1 with Sweden and Helsinborg before the decisive victory for qualification purposes in the last match against the Republic of Ireland: in Ascoli, in front of 4,500 spectators, Italy won with a peremptory 4-1. Rovella, the Azzurrini's top scorer in the qualifying matches with 3 goals, Cambiaghi, Pellegri and Quagliata all scored in the Azzurri's thrashing.

THE AZZURRINI'S OPPONENTS. While France and Norway qualified first in the group by winning Group H and Group A respectively, Switzerland gained a pass to the final phase as the best second placed side in Group E behind the Netherlands. In the 17 matches against France, the Azzurrini have collected 7 wins, 6 draws and 4 defeats, in the 14 matches against Switzerland, 6 wins, 7 draws and 1 defeat, while in the 8 matches against Norway, 4 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat. A fun fact: the last friendlies played with France (May 2018), Switzerland (August 2011) and Norway (March 2018) all ended with the same result (1-1). As far as the meetings in the European Championships are concerned, there have been three with France: the French eliminated the Azzurri in the quarter-finals of 1988 (in both the first and second legs), going on to win the only Under-21 continental title in their history; Italy instead won the other two matches in the semi-final of 1994 (on penalties) and in the semi-final of 1996 (1-0 with Totti's goal). Only one previous encounter in the final phase of the European Championship with Switzerland and Norway, whose best results in the history of the competition were 2nd place in 2011 and 3rd place in 1998: a goalless draw with the Swiss in the group stage in 2002 and another draw (1-1) with the Norwegians in the group stage in 2013.

FIGC WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA. Official FIGC channels will follow the National Under-21 team with exclusive content on the official website and social media. The website will allow fans to stay continuously updated on the Azzurrini's path in the European Championship through extensive reports on training sessions, press conferences, focus on opponents, match reports, interviews with the key players, photos and video gallery. Ample space to the Under 21 also on the social profiles of the national team, with exclusive formats, behind-the-scenes and special content that will tell the adventure of Paolo Nicolato's boys.

The squad list for the Under 21 European Championships

Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Bari), Marco Carnesecchi (Cremonese), Stefano Turati (Frosinone)
Defenders: Raoul Bellanova (Inter), Andrea Cambiaso (Bologna), Giorgio Cittadini (Modena), Matteo Lovato (Salernitana), Caleb Okoli (Atalanta), Fabiano Parisi (Empoli), Lorenzo Pirola (Salernitana), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Destiny Iyenoma Udogie (Udinese);
Midfielders: Edoardo Bove (Roma), Salvatore Esposito (Spezia), Fabio Miretti (Juventus), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Nicolò Rovella (Monza), Sandro Tonali (Milan);
Forwards: Nicolò Cambiaghi (Empoli), Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio), Lorenzo Colombo (Lecce), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Pietro Pellegri (Torino).

The schedule

All times in CEST

Wednesday 14 June

Meeting at the Tirrenia CPO until 23

Thursday 15 June

10 - Training (open to press)
14 - Press conference with coach Nicolato (Zoom and in person)
17 - Training (closed)

Friday 16 June

10 - Official team photo
17 – Training (closed)

Saturday 17 June

10 - Training (closed)
13.45 - Player press conference (Zoom and in person)
17 - Training (open to press)

Sunday 18 June

10 - Training (closed)
13.45 - Player press conference (Zoom and in person)
17 - Training (closed)

Monday 19 June

10 - Charter flight from Pisa to Cluj and transfer to the DoubleTree by Hilton Cluj
16.30 – Training (open to press)

Tuesday 20 June

11 – Meeting with Italian ambassador to Romania taken at Babes-Bolyan University
12.45 – Player press conference (Zoom and in person)
16 - Training (open to press)

Wednesday 21 June

16.15 – Pre-match press conference with coach Nicolato and a player at the Cluj Arena
17 – Training at the Cluj Arena ( open to press for the first 15')

Thursday 22 June

10 – Training (closed)
20.45 – France vs. ITALY (post match press conference)

Friday 23 June

9 – Training (open to press)
12.45 – Player press conference (Zoom and in person)
16 – Training (closed)

Saturday 24 June

16.15 – Pre-match press conference with coach Nicolato and a player at the Cluj Arena
17 – Training at the UBB Training Center in Cluj Napoca ( open to press for the first 15')

Sunday 25 June

10 – Training (closed)
18 – Switzerland vs. ITALY (post match press conference)

Monday 26 June

9 – Training (open to press)
12.45 - Player press conference (Zoom and in person)
16 – Training (closed)

Tuesday 27 June

15.45 – Pre-match press conference with coach Nicolato and a player at the Cluj Arena
17.15 – Training at the UBB Training Center in Cluj Napoca ( open to press for the first 15')

Wednesday 28 June

10 – Training (closed)
20.45 – ITALY vs. Norway (post match press conference)