It’s a new start for the Under 21 National Team who kicked off their campaign towards the 2025 European Championships at the Tirrenia Olympic Preparation Center. New coach: Carmine Nunziata, promoted from the Under 20s following his second-placed finish at the last World Cup in Argentina. New players: many of whom joined the Under 21s following campaigns in the World Cup U20 squad or the U19 Euros, which Italy won.  But the national team that will start Friday from Latvia (in Jurmala at 16:00 CEST, live on RAI) is a team that can count on players who have already been part of the squad for the last two-year period.  This concluded with the Euros in Romania and Georgia in which Italy, however, did not manage to get through the group stage. The call-up list for Latvia and Turkey includes five players who were in the 23 selected in June by Paolo Nicolato: Giorgio Cittadini, Lorenzo Pirola, Edoardo Bove, Fabio Miretti and Lorenzo Colombo. 

"We will start again from the players who formed the group of the last two years, to which we will add those who arrived from the Under-20 World Cup - Nunziata’s, already in the Under-21 with Devis Mangia and Gigi Di Biagio. -They are two groups that I already know, they have quality and excellent players. As far as the system of play is concerned, they are groups that have always played with the 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-1-2, not by my choice but to put the players in the best conditions. We will start from this but, when you play by principles, by occupying spaces you give the boys the chance to express their qualities. The real leader must be the game.”

The new Under-21 team's goals are clear: "To try to get the boys to gain experience so they can play for the Senior National Team and, of course, to qualify for the Under-21 European Championship. In these years I have found some fantastic guys, who really understand the national team jersey, which gives incredible emotions". These goals also depend on the growth of the players in their respective clubs: "Our boys mature a couple of years later than abroad, perhaps because they play little in their clubs. But the quality is there, otherwise, we would not be able to achieve certain results. Young people are the future: we all say that, but in the end, we still do very little. These youngsters need to play more, regardless of the category. What we can do is to give them as much experience as possible.”

Nunziata, who "thanked the Federation for the opportunity to coach the Under-21 team" and will soon decide who will be entrusted with the captain's armband ("But it will almost certainly be a player from the last two years," he said), also took stock of the team's physical condition: "We are still early in the season, but the reality is that there must be no excuses. We have two important games in front of us and we have to win them both. My staff and I will find solutions and the players will give 100 per cent. Bologna midfielder Giovanni Fabbian, who is unavailable, will not be part of the group that will leave for Latvia.

The squad

Goalkeepers: Sebastiano Desplanches (Palermo), Jacopo Sassi (Pro Vercelli), Gioele Zacchi (Giana Erminio)
Defenders: Giorgio Cittadini (Monza), Diego Coppola (Verona), Daniele Ghilardi (Sampdoria), Gabriele Guarino (Empoli), Michael Olabode Kayode* (Fiorentina), Lorenzo Pirola (Salernitana), Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), Riccardo Turicchia (Juventus), Mattia Zanotti (Sankt Gallen)
Midfielders: Tommaso Baldanzi (Empoli), Edoardo Bove (Roma), Cesare Casadei (Leicester), Giovanni Fabbian (Bologna)**, Jacopo Fazzini (Empoli), Fabio Miretti (Juventus), Cher Ndour (Paris Saint Germain), Simone Panada (Sampdoria), Matteo Prati (Cagliari), Franco Heubang Tongya (Odense)
Attackers: Marco Nasti (Bari), Lorenzo Colombo (Monza), Francesco Pio Esposito (Spezia), Gaetano Pio Oristanio (Cagliari)

*called up in place of the unavailable Destiny Iyenoma Udogie (Tottenham)
**unavailable

UEFA EURO UNDER 21 2025 - GROUP A
Friday 8 September (16:00 CEST): Latvia-Italy (Jurmala)

Tuesday 12 September (18:30 CEST): Turkey-Italy (Sakarya) 

Tuesday 17 October (17.45 CEST): Italy-Norway (Bolzano)

Thursday 16 November: San Marino-Italy

Tuesday 21 November: Ireland-Italy

Friday 22 March 2024: Italy-Latvia

Tuesday 26 March 2024: Italy-Turchia

Thursday 5 September 2024: Italy-San Marino

Tuesday 10 September 2024: Norway-Italy

Tuesday 15 October 2024: Italy-Ireland

Standings: Latvia (1) 3, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Turkey, San Marino (1) 0

The Schedule
Tuesday 5 September
11.30 CEST training (open to press)
14 :00 CEST footballers press conference (Zoom and in person)

Wednesday 6 September
11.30 CEST training (open to press)
16:00 CEST Pisa-Riga flight and transfer to Baltic Beach Hotel, Jurmala 

Thursday 7 September
13.30 CEST Nunziata press conference (Zoom and in person)
16:00 CEST training at the 'Slokas' stadium, Jurmala (first 15 minutes open to the press)

Friday 8 September
16:00 Latvia-ITALY ("Slokas" Stadium, Jurmala)

post match press conference to follow on Zoom and in person

Saturday 9 September
10:00 CEST chartered flight Riga-Sakaria and transfer to Radisson Blue Sakaria
17:00 training (open to the press)

Sunday 10 September
10.30 CEST training (open to the press)
13:00 footballers press conference (Zoom and in person)

Monday 11 September
13.30 CEST Nunziata press conference (Zoom and in person)
17:00 Training at the  Yeni Sakarya Atatürk Stadium, Sakarya (first 15 minutes open to the press)

Tuesday 12 September
18.30 CEST Turkey-ITALY (Yeni Sakarya Atatürk Stadium, Sakarya)
press conference to follow (Zoom and in person) and chartered flight Sakarya-Milano Malpensa-Roma Fiumicino and the delegation disbands