After four months, the National team is back on the pitch, as the reigning European Champions begin their journey in the EURO 2024 qualification: the Azzurri get back underway in Naples with the challenge against the most fearsome opponent in the group, England (Stadio 'Diego Armando Maradona', Thursday 23 March - 20:45 CET) and then face Malta (Ta' Qali Stadium, Sunday 26 March - 20:45 CET). Two matches that open a 2023 full of games, from the qualifications for the continental tournament that will be played next year in Germany (the group, in which the Ukraine and North Macedonia are also included, will end in November), to the Nations League Finals scheduled in mid-June in the Netherlands.

Head coach Roberto Mancini has called up 30 players, who will meet on Sunday 19 March at the Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano: there is a first call-up to the national team for Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, Torino defender Alessandro Buongiorno and Atletico Tigre striker Mateo Retegui. This brings the number of players called up under Mancini's management to 102, with Falcone and Buongiorno having already taken part in last December's session dedicated to players of national interest. Matteo Darmian and Alessio Romagnoli, not picked since March 2018 and November 2020 respectively, also return to wear the Azzurri shirt.

The Azzurri will train on Monday and Tuesday at the Centro Tecnico Federale before leaving for Naples on Wednesday, from where they will head straight to Malta after the match against England.

ALL THE SCHEDULED INITIATIVES IN NAPLES. Italy return to play in Naples after 10 years, where 31,000 tickets have already been sold for the match against England. To welcome the national team, the city will be painted blue: from the afternoon of Tuesday 21 March, at around 18:00 and until dawn the following day, and again on the following two evenings (22 and 23), the City of Naples - on the instructions of the mayor Gaetano Manfredi - will light up two of the city's symbolic sites, the Maschio Angioino and the Fontana del Nettuno in Piazza Municipio, with the colour blue.

Upon arrival at the Central Station on Wednesday 22 March, a delegation of the national team led by FIGC president Gabriele Gravina and composed of members of the technical staff and players will also visit the 'Santobono' Children's Hospital in Naples. The Azzurri will visit the neuro-surgery, neurology, neuro-psychiatry and neuro-oncology wards to donate balls, scarves and other items of the national team to the young patients. The visit follows a path undertaken for years by the FIGC, which has led the national team to meet patients in paediatric hospitals in the cities hosting the matches. The pre-match will also include the two official team conferences at the stadium: at 18:45 Mancini, at 20:00 Southgate, while the last training session is scheduled on the morning of 22 March for both national teams at their respective technical centres, Coverciano and St. George's Park. At the end of the press conference reserved for Italy, the Mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi will present the medals of the City to president Gravina, coach Mancini and the captain of the Azzurri in the match.

At the stadium there will be a series of activities to involve the public, to create the best atmosphere for a game that less than two years ago decided the Euros at Wembley; precisely at the 'Maradona', among other things, the brand theme of the Italian national football teams will also make its official debut alongside the Azzurri. Presented on 2 January together with the new scudetto logo, it is a true musical system, articulated in various elements: the sound logo, which in 3 minutes sums up the passion for the Azzurri and the Azzurre, the declinations for the various physical and digital touchpoints, up to the full track, entitled 'Azzurri', composed and produced by Enrico Giaretta and Maurizio D'Aniello and enriched by the voice of soprano Susanna Rigacci. Another debut in this competition is that of Oscar, the mascot of the national team, a puppy of a Maremmano - Abruzzese shepherd with a tender and kind face designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who passed away in 2012, a true master of cinematic special effects, for which he was awarded three Academy Awards.

In the stands there will be a special representation related to football activities in the city: in fact, the FIGC has invited some of the participants in two social projects promoted by the Pontifical Scholas Occurrentes Foundation in Naples, implemented in collaboration with the FIGC Youth and School Sector. On the one hand, a group of educators and children involved in 'Pelota de Trapo' (rag ball) in the Sanità and Scampia neighbourhoods, which aims to use football, especially among girls, as a means of aggregation, a project in collaboration with 'Play for Change' and 'Università Cattolica di Milano'; on the other, some boys from the Nisida juvenile institute who took part in the 'Zona Luce' project, an educational and training pathway, which involves prison police officers, inmates of the juvenile prison and sports staff of local clubs. Finally, the presence at the 'Maradona' of around 2,000 members of the Neapolitan football clubs affiliated with the FIGC is expected.

During the match, the FIGC will launch the 'United by the same colours' campaign, promoted since 2022 on the international day for the elimination of racial discrimination (21 March), on the big screen and on the advertising boards around the pitch.

The squad

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Wladimiro Falcone (Lecce), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Alessio Romagnoli (Lazio), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Sassuolo), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Monza), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain);
Attackers: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United), Vincenzo Grifo (Friburgo), Simone Pafundi (Udinese), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Club Atletico Tigre), Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham United).