The last stages of preparation for the Euros, held in England from 6 to 31 July, have officially started with the announcement of the 23 Azzurre players that will board the plane for Manchester on 4 July. After carefully deciding on those final selection doubts, Milena Bertolini has officially confirmed the names of the players who will represent the country at the tournament. Out of the 27 that have been part of the camp in Castel di Sangro, Roberta Aprile, Angelica Soffia, Giada Greggi e Annamaria Serturini, are the ones to miss out, and have now left the camp saying their goodbyes to the group.

Meanwhile, a month of training camps has just concluded, and the players have been given two days off, before the final week of work begins tomorrow afternoon (Monday 27 June) at the Stadio Teofilo Patini. The squad will take part in the official photo shoot earlier in the day, around lunchtime, and on Friday 1 July at 17:00, at Stadio Patini, they will play their final warm-up game against Spain (for ticket info click here), before jetting off to England three days later.

Italy find themselves in a difficult group with France, third in the FIFA rankings, Iceland and Belgium all to face, but it’s a challenge and adventure that is looked upon enthusiastically. The Azzurre, who were knocked out in the group stages in the last tournament in the Netherlands in 2017, open up their campaign against France on 10 July at 21:00 CEST at the New York Stadium in Rotherham. Next up is Iceland on 14 July (18:00 CEST) before finishing off against Belgium on 18 July (21:00 CEST). Both games are to be played at the Manchester City Academy Stadium in Manchester and will be broadcasted live on Rai and Sky. The top two teams in the group will qualify for the Quarter-Finals.

The squad list:

Goalkeepers: Francesca Durante (Inter), Laura Giuliani (Milan), Katja Schroffenegger (Fiorentina);

Defenders: Elisa Bartoli (AS Roma), Valentina Bergamaschi (Milan), Lisa Boattin (Juventus), Lucia Di Guglielmo (AS Roma), Maria Luisa Filangeri (Sassuolo), Sara Gama (Juventus), Martina Lenzini (Juventus), Elena Linari (AS Roma);

Midfielders: Arianna Caruso (Juventus), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus), Aurora Galli (Everton), Manuela Giugliano (AS Roma), Martina Rosucci (Juventus), Flaminia Simonetti (Inter);

Forwards: Barbara Bonansea (Juventus), Agnese Bonfantini (Juventus), Valentina Giacinti (Fiorentina), Cristiana Girelli (Juventus), Martina Piemonte (Milan), Daniela Sabatino (Fiorentina).