Call-ups in the Spalletti era: 17 European Champions in Azzurri
11 November 2023
Sunday, September 10, 2023
The last five ‘first times’ have all ended in victory: from Recagni (on his second ‘debut’ in 1999) to Bertolini, the most recent five Head Coaches of the Women's First Team have all won their opening game in the Azzurre hotseat.
It is a trend that, in reality, suffered less positive results in the early days, starting with Guenza, who started off his "official" Azzurre journey (he was in charge of the National side before it became part of the FIGC in 1981 - Ed.) in 1984 with a 3-2 defeat to Sweden in Rome, a play-off game for qualification to Euro 1984. The same outcome occurred also for Recagni, again in 1984, losing 2-1 to West Germany in Caorle, while the first drawn game for a Head Coach in their first game in charge came in Guenza's second "debut", which continued with Vatta (who then went on to win five straight games) and Facchin.
In 12 games since 1984, the overal record is six wins, three draws and three defeats. France (Morace and Nicolai) and Ukraine (second games for Recagni and Ghedin) have been faced twice, while one game each against Sweden, West Germany, England, Norway, China, Australia, Macedonia and Moldova. Regarding location, there have been ten games played in Italy (two times in Rome, then Caorle and Castelfranco in Veneto, Mantova and Monza in Lombardy, Torino, La Spezia, Termoli and Rende) and twice abroad: London and Sydney.
The best-ever result was Cabrini's 9-0 win over Macedonia, with the worst defeat 3-1 under Guenza in Mantova in 1994.