National team, revolution in the technical staff

National, staff

The Azzurrini’s victory at the Under-19 European Championship, 20 years after the previous title, closed the 2022-23 season in the best possible way and, at the same time, symbolically stood as a turning point for Club Italia’s technical project.

In fact, starting from an analysis of the results and experiences gained during the season that has just ended, and based on what had already emerged in the previous ones, the FIGC defined, on the basis of a technical proposal by CT Roberto Mancini, the new structure of the Men’s National Teams, from A to Under 15, with the aim of enhancing the Italian football heritage; putting the professionalism present in Club Italia in a position to contribute to the achievement of ambitious goals for all the National Teams; facilitating the maturation of young talents and encouraging their continuous and constant landing in the National A team.

“We are giving life to a new phase of Club Italia, it is an evolution and not a revolution,” says FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, “because we are restarting with new ideas, but also with some fixed points of our technical project. Club Italia is a successful reality, the numbers from 2018 to today say so, but in order to remain at the top and even improve, it is necessary to change, to explore new paths and to know how to grasp the constant updates of international soccer. We have done this with a coherent project that reiterates the opportunity, even before the need, to work as a supply chain, whose only goal is to mature talent. I thank all those who are no longer on the organizational chart and have contributed to the victories of the last few years, and I wish the new coaches and collaborators all the best in making their mark in Azzurro.”

Based on these premises, Mancini will be directly in charge of the selection and technical activity of the National A, Under-21 and 20 Teams: the functional integration of these Teams, will in fact lead to the application of the same styles and systems of play on the field, favoring and speeding up technical learning. In this sense, the respective staffs have been defined according to choices that allow them to work, on and off the field, in full harmony, integrating the different skills and experiences, gained within the clubs or in the Giovanili Azzurre. Finally, starting with the National A team, figures with specific characteristics have been identified to give the team increasingly in-depth technical-tactical knowledge.

The alter ego of the CT in what can be configured as a sort of coordinated Technical Direction on the enhancement of our home talents will be Maurizio Viscidi, who is asked to commit himself on two fronts: on the one hand to guide the technical training of the Azzurri base, the Teams from the Under 15 to the Under 19, continuing the excellent work carried out now since 2010 with many generations of Azzurrini. On the other, to contribute to the integration of the top youth teams, the 21 and 20, with the National A Team: he will be the link between the two paths, based on the specific expertise and extraordinary experience gained in the development of young talents over the past decade.

The exercise of the roles of Technical Responsibility by Mancini and Viscidi will therefore be carried out in continuous and mutual connection for the realization of a synergic and harmonious work, so as to ensure a functional development for the Italian football base.

Numerous changes in the staff of the Azzurri, among those who leave and those who are moved to the Under 21 and Under 20. Among the. Among the CT’s four assistants, only Fausto Salsano is confirmed, who will be joined by the fresh European Under-19 Champion Alberto Bollini, with the role of deputy (after his first experience on the staff at the 2023 Nations League Finals), 2006 World Champion Andrea Barzagli, who will be in charge of the defensive phase in particular, and the returning Antonio Gagliardi, with the role of tactical specialist on the pitch.

Barzagli returns to the national team just under six years later; his 73rd and last appearance (in exactly 13 years, debut in November 2004) was on Nov. 13, 2017, in Italy-Sweden, a sad epilogue to the 2018 World Cup run. On his Azzurri palmares: the 2006 World Cup and 2nd place at Euro 2012, the Under-21 European Championship and the Olympic bronze medal, both in 2004. From 2021-22 he had joined the technical cadre of Club Italia working in youth teams as needed.

Gagliardi, on the other hand, a match analyst for the Azzurri from 2012-2021, had left the national team since the start of the 20-21 season to follow Andrea Pirlo to Juventus while returning for the Euro 2020 finals.

Confirmed are Massimo Battara (Goalkeeper Trainer), Simone Contran (Match Analyst), Claudio Donatelli and Andrea Scanavino (Athletic Trainers), while Valter Di Salvo will not be attached to the senior national team but will continue to direct the Performance Area of Club Italia.

Alberico Evani, who joined Club Italia in 2010, taking over the leadership of the Under 18, Under 19 and Under 20 National Teams, which he led to a 3rd place finish at the 2015 World Cup in South Korea, earning the jump to the National A team in August 2017, first with Ventura, then with Mancini, says goodbye to Azzurro. For him, among others, also the 2 benches in the Under 21 to replace Di Biagio called to ferry the A after Ventura’s exoneration; and the 3 with the National A team with Estonia, Poland and Bosnia Herzegovina, replacing the unavailable Mancini, out for Covid.

Mauro Sandreani (who arrived with Antonio Conte in 2014) also leaves the technical cadre, while Giulio Nuciari leaves the field role and moves on to compose the scouting team with Venturin.

Two transfers to the Youth team: Attilio Lombardo becomes the coach of the National Under-20 team and will have as deputy Marco Scarpa, first an observer then an assistant coach in the National A team.

On the bench of the National Under-21 team will sit Carmine Nunziata, another long-time coach in Club Italia (2012), who with the 21 has already lived, as second, with Devis Mangia (2nd place at the European ’15) and then with Luigi Di Biagio (European ’17 and ’19). Since 2017 he has been entrusted with the leadership of the Under-17, with which for 2 years in a row he made it to the finals of the European Championship (2018 and 2019), ending with two defeats both with the Netherlands (6-3 on penalties and 4-2).

In 2022, he led the Under 19 team one step closer to another European Final, however, stopping in the semifinals in Israel against England (1-2), but winning the right to play in the Under 20 World Cup, where in 2023 his Azzurrini surrendered last May only in the Final to Uruguay (1-0).

At the Under-20 arrives, as mentioned above, Attilio Lombardo, with the new entry of Francesco Antonioli (goalkeepers), as well as Marco Scarpa on staff as second. In the other teams, Bernardo Corradi rises from 17 to 19, Massimiliano Favo from 15 to 17, Daniele Franceschini and Daniele Zoratto are confirmed at 18 and 16; at 15, under the supervision of Antonio Rocca, comes Enrico Battisti, new also for the deputy, Bruno Redolfi.