Italy and Mancini restart from Nations League with 34 players and nine new faces

Adnkronos reported that Italy and coach Roberto Mancini resumed competition in the Nations League after failing to qualify for the World Cup. The national team named 34 players for the upcoming matches, including nine athletes making their first senior call-up. Among them were goalkeeper Massimo Pessina of Bologna, defender Daniele Ghilardi of Roma, defender Michael Kayode of Brentford, defender Eddy Kouadio of Monza, midfielder Alessandro Romano of Cagliari, midfielder Issa Doumbia of Sporting CP, forward Sebastiano Esposito of Sassuolo, forward Antonio Vergara of Napoli, and forward Mohamed Alì Zoma of Norimberga. The squad also welcomed back players such as Nicolò Fagioli and Nicolò Zaniolo, who had been absent since October 2024, and Rolando Mandragora, last capped in March 2021. The first training session took place on Monday 21 September at Coverciano, with the team scheduled to debut in the fifth edition of the Nations League on Friday 25 September against Belgium at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Three days later Italy will travel to Turkey for a match at the Atatürk Spor Kompleksi in Bursa, and on Friday 2 October they will face France at Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The group will conclude its first international window with a home fixture against Turkey on Monday 5 October at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in Bologna. Diana Bianchedi, a former national team player turned sports executive, assumed the role of head delegation for the first time, becoming the first woman to hold that position.

The full list of called-up players includes goalkeepers Marco Carnesecchi of Atalanta, Gianluigi Donnarumma of Manchester City, Massimo Pessina of Bologna, and Guglielmo Vicario of Juventus; defenders Honest Ahanor of Crystal Palace, Alessandro Bastoni of Inter, Riccardo Calafiori of Arsenal, Diego Coppola of Paris FC, Giovanni Di Lorenzo of Napoli, Federico Dimarco of Inter, Daniele Ghilardi of Roma, Michael Kayode of Brentford, Eddy Kouadio of Monza, Gianluca Mancini of Roma, and Giorgio Scalvini of Atalanta; midfielders Nicolò Barella of Inter, Bryan Cristante of Roma, Issa Doumbia of Sporting CP, Nicolò Fagioli of Fiorentina, Davide Frattesi of Lazio, Rolando Mandragora of Torino, Alessandro Romano of Cagliari, and Sandro Tonali of Tottenham; and forwards Nicolò Cambiaghi of Bologna, Francesco Pio Esposito of Inter, Sebastiano Esposito of Sassuolo, Samuele Inacio of Borussia Dortmund, Moise Kean of Como, Daniel Maldini of Cagliari, Giacomo Raspadori of Atalanta, Gianluca Scamacca of Atalanta, Antonio Vergara of Napoli, Nicolò Zaniolo of Udinese, and Mohamed Alì Zoma of Norimberga.

Reported by StartupBusiness.