Italy

Italy, the Azzurri, are one of football's true aristocrats, four-time world champions celebrated for their tactical mastery, defensive artistry, and big-game temperament. A nation that lives and breathes the game, Italy have produced some of the sport's greatest sides and players.

Italy have won the World Cup four times — back-to-back in 1934 and 1938, again in 1982 behind Paolo Rossi's heroics, and in 2006, beating France on penalties after Zidane's infamous headbutt. Yet recent years have brought stunning decline: the Azzurri failed to qualify in 2018 and 2022, and in 2026 they suffered fresh heartbreak, losing the European playoff final to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties to miss a third straight World Cup — an unthinkable fate for a former champion.