Current FIFA World Ranking: 4th
FIFA Trigram: ITA
2010 World Cup Qualifying: Finished 1st in UEFA Group 8 (7-0-3; 18 GF, 7 GA)
World Cup Finals Appearances: 17 –1934 (1st), 1938 (1st), 1950 (7th), 1954 (10th), 1962 (9th), 1966 (9th), 1970 (2nd), 1974 (10th), 1978 (4th), 1982 (1st), 1986 (12th), 1990 (3rd), 1994 (2nd), 1998 (5th), 2002 (15th), 2006 (1st), 2010
Record vs. USA: 4-0-3
Head Coach: Marcello Lippi
Championship Honors: FIFA World Cup (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), European Championship (1968)
Leading World Cup Qualifying Scorer: Alberto Gilardino (4)
Key Players: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)
Language: Italian
One of eight teams to progress to the World Cup with an undefeated record in qualifying along with Cote d'Ivoire, Germany, Italy, Korea Republic, Nigeria, Spain and the Netherlands … At 27 years and four months, Italy's squad was the oldest of any of the teams which qualified for South Africa … Memorably faced the USA in Kaiserslautern during the 2006 World Cup, when three players were sent off in a 1-1 draw as well as in 1930 … With four World Cup titles, The Azzurri are second only to Brazil's five world championships … Italy have advanced out of the first round in the last eight World Cups … After leaving the job, coach Marcello Lippi returned in 2008 to lead Italy in defense of its 2006 title
