Associazione Sportiva Roma is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for the 1951–52 season. Roma has won Serie A three times, in 1941–42, 1982–83 and 2000–01, as well as nine Coppa Italia titles and two Supercoppa Italiana titles. In European competitions, Roma won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960–61 and the UEFA Conference League in 2021–22, while they finished runners-up in the 1983–84 European Cup, the 1990–91 UEFA Cup and the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League.
Associazione Calcio Fiorentina, commonly referred to as AC Fiorentina or Fiorentina, is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the current club was refounded in August 2002 following bankruptcy. Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A seasons.
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is the only Italian side to have always competed in top flight of Italian football since its debut in 1909.
The Serie A, officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system. The winners are awarded the Coppa Campioni d'Italia trophy and the scudetto, a decoration that they wear on the jersey the season after the victory. It has been operating as a round-robin tournament for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been organized by the Direttorio Divisioni Superiori until 1943, the Lega Calcio until 2010, and the Lega Serie A ever since. Serie A is regarded as one of the best football leagues in the world and it is often depicted as the most tactical and defensively sound national league. Serie A was ranked the world's best national league in 2023 by IFFHS, and is ranked second among European leagues according to UEFA's league coefficient – behind the Premier League, and ahead of La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 – which is based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and the Europa League during the previous five years. Serie A led the UEFA ranking from 1986 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1999.
Juventus Football Club, commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1897 by a group of Torinese students, the club played in different grounds around the city, being the latter the Juventus Stadium.
The Union of European Football Associations is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the West Asian countries of Cyprus, Armenia and Israel. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Since 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian national teams and clubs from any FIFA and UEFA competitions.
Paolo Cesare Maldini is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a left-back or as a centre-back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time. As the Milan and Italy captain for many years, he was nicknamed "Il Capitano". Maldini held the record for appearances in Serie A (647), until he was surpassed by Gianluigi Buffon in 2020. He also holds the joint-record for most European Cup/UEFA Champions League final appearances (8) alongside Paco Gento. He was recently a technical director for Milan and is a co-owner of USL Championship club Miami FC.
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contested by UEFA members' senior men's national teams, determining the continental champion of Europe. It is the second-most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup; the Euro 2016 final was watched by a global audience of around 600 million. The competition has been held every four years since 1960, except for 2020, when it was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, but kept the name Euro 2020. Scheduled to be in the even-numbered year between FIFA World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations' Cup before changing to its current name in 1968. Since 1996, the individual events have been branded as "UEFA Euro [year]".
The France national football team represents France in men's international football. It is controlled by the French Football Federation, the governing body for football in France. It is a member of UEFA in Europe and FIFA in global competitions. The team's colours and imagery reference two national symbols: the French blue-white-red tricolour and Gallic rooster. The team is colloquially known as Les Bleus. They play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and train at Centre National du Football in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines.
The Germany national football team represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900. Between 1949 and 1990, separate German national teams were recognised by FIFA due to Allied occupation and division: the DFB's team representing the Federal Republic of Germany, the Saarland team representing the Saar Protectorate (1950–1956) and the East Germany team representing the German Democratic Republic (1952–1990). The latter two were absorbed along with their records; the present team represents the reunified Federal Republic. The official name and code "Germany FR (FRG)" was shortened to "Germany (GER)" following reunification in 1990.
The Italy national football team has represented Italy in men's international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for football in Italy, which is a co-founder and member of UEFA. Italy's home matches are played at various stadiums throughout Italy, and its primary training ground and technical headquarters, Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, is located in Florence.
The Spain national football team has represented Spain in men's international football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain.
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
The Italian Football Federation, known colloquially as Federcalcio, is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence.
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. In its history, Napoli has won three Serie A titles, six Coppa Italia titles, two Supercoppa Italiana titles, and one UEFA Cup.
The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation.
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tier of Italian football. In its early history, Milan played its home games in different grounds around the city before moving to its current stadium, the San Siro, in 1926. The stadium, which was built by Milan's second chairman, Piero Pirelli and has been shared with Inter Milan since 1947, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 75,817. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Inter, with whom they contest the Derby della Madonnina, one of the most followed derbies in football.
Torino Football Club, colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont. They currently play in Serie A. Founded as Foot-Ball Club Torino in 1906, Torino are among the most successful clubs in Italy with seven league titles, including five consecutive league titles during the 1940s. The Grande Torino, as the team was known, was widely recognised as one of the strongest footballing sides of the period, until the entire team was killed in the 1949 Superga air disaster. They have also won the Coppa Italia five times, the last of which was in the 1992–93 season. Internationally, Torino won the Mitropa Cup in 1991 and were finalists in the UEFA Cup in 1991–92.
Genoa Cricket and Football Club is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The team competes in the Serie A, the top division of the Italian football league system.
The Italian national under-18 football team represents Italy in international football at an under-18 age level and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Italy. The team was known as Italy national under-17 football team prior 2001.
