Italy National Team: Azzurri Football Squad, Fixtures and Next Match in African Kick-Off Times

The Italy national team, known as the Azzurri, is Italy's senior men's football side, and it has won the World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006) and the European Championship twice (1968 and 2020). Italy did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup after losing the playoff final to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in 2026, and the fixture card provides the dates and opponents for scheduled matches. Whether you call it the Italy soccer team in Johannesburg or the Italy football team in Lagos, the story is the same one: a team whose World Cup titles span 1934 to 2006.

Below, you will find how to read the fixture card and turn an Italian kick-off into your own time, who makes up the squad and how call-ups are shown, why Italy missed the tournament, and what the Azzurri have won over more than a century. Think of it like the route board at a Lagos danfo park, where the destination changes daily, but once you know how to read the board you never miss your bus. The later sections cover where to watch from Africa, the Nigerian and Ghanaian World Cup nights against Italy, and the players with African roots who have worn the blue shirt.

When Is Italy's Next Match, and What Time Is Kick-Off Where You Live?

Find the Azzurri’s next scheduled appearance on the opening fixture card, where Italy’s opponent, competition and date sit alongside WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT readings. Once an Italy result is recorded, the card advances to the following scheduled game. For an Italian winter start of 20:45, Lagos viewers use 20:45 WAT and supporters in Nairobi or Kampala use 22:45 EAT; the same Azzurri fixture begins at 21:45 SAST in Johannesburg and 19:45 GMT in Accra. That puts the start in the evening across all five countries, although East African viewers should allow for a finish around midnight.

Rome’s clock setting determines which conversion applies to an Italy fixture. The Italian clock moves forward in late March and back in late October; clocks in the five African countries stay unchanged. During Italy’s summer clock period, a match retaining its Italian start time therefore reaches African screens an hour earlier. Use the Italy conversion table to compare those settings, then take the dated Azzurri fixture card’s local reading when arranging your viewing.

How Do You Read the Italy Fixtures and Results?

The Italy fixtures and results list groups every game by competition, and each competition carries a different weight. UEFA Nations League matches decide group positions, promotion and relegation between the leagues and a place in the finals, and they also feed into the seeding that shapes qualifying draws. European Championship and World Cup qualifiers decide whether Italy reach a tournament at all, and the competition label identifies which tournament each qualifier concerns. Friendlies carry no points, but they are where a coach tries new players and new partnerships before the matches that count.

Each fixture line carries a short note on what is at stake, and the result line beside it shows the score, the scorers and FT once the whistle goes. Read them together the way a trader at Balogun Market reads the week, where one day matters less than the trend across the whole window. A draw in a friendly tells you little on its own. But, a qualifier result moves the group table straight away, and that table, rather than the mood after a single night, decides whether the Azzurri travel to the next finals.

Who Is in the Italy Squad?

Italy's squad module separates the selected Azzurri into four positional groups, from goalkeeper through to attack. Alongside each name, the entries give club affiliation, age and international appearances, with selections refreshed when Italy announce a squad. A new marker identifies an Italy debut call, while the out marker and replacement entry explain changes to that selection. The club column identifies where each selected player plays, helping readers in Nairobi, Kampala and Lagos connect the Azzurri with the Juventus, Inter or AC Milan shirts they follow on club nights.

For a guide to experience in the blue shirt, start with caps. The caps column shows each selected player’s international experience. Gianluigi Buffon held Italy’s caps record with 176 appearances in 2023. Alongside those appearance totals, the club column also identifies players based outside Italy. Italy's out entries and named replacements explain how an announced selection has changed before kick-off.

Where Is Italy’s Coach Listed?

The current Italy coach is named at the head of the squad list, because the post changed hands after the 2026 playoff and the list keeps that detail right as appointments are made. Gennaro Gattuso left the role by mutual consent in 2026 three days after the defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a day after the federation president, Gabriele Gravina, had resigned. Encyclopaedia coverage of catenaccio describes how Nereo Rocco used the defensive system with Padova in 1947, with a covering defender behind the marking line; that dated example explains one strand of Italian tactical history.

Why Did Italy Miss the 2026 World Cup?

Italy did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup because they drew 1 to 1 with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the playoff final in 2026 and lost the penalty shootout. It was the third World Cup in a row that Italy missed, after 2018 and 2022, the longest absence from the tournament in the history of the Azzurri. For context, the first time Italy failed to reach the finals at all was 1958, after a qualifying defeat to Northern Ireland, and that generation recovered well enough for Italy to reach the 1970 World Cup final twelve years later.

Italy won the 2006 World Cup and the 2020 European Championship, played in 2021, through penalty shootouts in the finals.

What Have the Azzurri Won?

The Azzurri have won four World Cups and two European Championships, which puts them among the most decorated nations in international football. Vittorio Pozzo coached Italy to the 1934 and 1938 titles, and he remains the only manager to win the World Cup twice. The third title came in 1982, and the fourth came in Berlin on 9 July 2006, when Italy beat France on penalties after a 1 to 1 draw. That 2006 run also passed through Hanover and a group game against Ghana, which gives West African readers their own small part of the story.

The European titles came in 1968 and in the 2020 edition, which was played in 2021, when Italy drew 1 to 1 with England at Wembley and won the shootout 3 to 2 on 11 July 2021. Italy also reached the World Cup final in 1970, losing 4 to 1 to Brazil, and in 1994, when Brazil won on penalties. So, the honours list shows how much the shootout has shaped Italian football at both ends, with two titles won from the spot and one final lost there, and knockout nights are where the Azzurri have written most of their history.

Who Holds the Italy Records?

Gianluigi Buffon held Italy’s caps record with 176 appearances in 2023; Gigi Riva held the scoring record with 35 goals in 2023. The records module identifies the current holders and the players approaching their totals. The first official international was a 6 to 2 win over France in Milan on 15 May 1910, and Italy beat the United States 9 to 0 in Brentford, England, on 2 August 1948.

Where Can You Watch Italy From Africa?

Where to watch Italy depends on your country, and the broadcaster and streaming options sit in the viewing box for Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, because rights change between competitions. Italy’s broadcast coverage can differ across Nations League fixtures, qualifying campaigns and friendly appearances; check the Azzurri viewing entry against the competition attached to your chosen fixture. In South Africa, which has the largest Italy search audience of the five countries, pay television and streaming carry most European international football, and a 20:45 Italian kick-off sits in the SAST prime time slot, either 20:45 or 21:45 depending on the season.

An Azzurri viewing group spanning Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Accra can use the WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT entries to agree on one fixture. Kampala shares Nairobi’s EAT reading: an Italy match beginning at 20:45 on Italian winter clocks starts there at 22:45 EAT.

Why Do Italy Matter in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa?

Italy matter most in Nigeria because of 5 July 1994, when Roberto Baggio scored twice to beat the Super Eagles 2 to 1 after extra time in the World Cup round of 16. Lagos still retells that night the way families retell a wedding, every detail polished, and it remains the defining Italy match for a Nigerian reader. Ghana's link is 12 June 2006 in Hanover, when Italy won 2 to 0 in the opening group match for both sides, on the way to the title. The head to head module lists every meeting with the five nations, and those two World Cup nights are the ones people remember.

Today the stake is personal through Serie A. Ademola Lookman, the 2024 CAF Player of the Year and the first Nigerian to win it since 1999, made his name in Italian football, and Kenya's McDonald Mariga won Serie A and the Champions League with Inter in 2010. In Kenya and Uganda, many fans take up the Azzurri as a second team through the Serie A club they follow. The African roots reach the blue shirt too: Moise Kean and Wilfried Gnonto, both born in Italy to Ivorian parents, have played for Italy, as did Angelo Ogbonna, of Nigerian descent, in the 2010s.

Is It the Italy Football Team, the Azzurri or Italia?

All three names are right, because the Italy national team, the Italy national football team and the Azzurri describe the same side, and Italians themselves often simply say Italia or the Nazionale. Azzurri means 'the blues', after the blue shirt that is the team's best known symbol. Readers in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa tend to search for the Italy squad, the Italy fixtures and the Italy next match, so those are the first things to check when a window opens. If you follow more than one side, the full list of national teams uses the same layout, with the same four kick-off times.