Italy begin their UEFA Nations League campaign under Roberto Mancini on Friday night, hosting Belgium at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico in the first competitive match of his second spell in charge.
Kick-off is 20:45 CEST on 25 September 2026. It is Italy’s first competitive outing since a play-off defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in March ended a third consecutive failure to reach the World Cup. Mancini, the coach who led Italy to Euro 2020, returned in July after a turbulent federation rebuild under new FIGC president Giovanni Malagò.
“We have to take the national team back to where it deserves to be,” Mancini said on Monday, according to AFP. “I’m here to win and I’m sure we’ll enjoy some great moments.”
34 players, nine new faces
The FIGC named a 34-player squad that meets at Coverciano, with nine first senior call-ups: goalkeeper Massimo Pessina (Bologna); defenders Daniele Ghilardi (Roma), Michael Kayode (Brentford) and Eddy Kouadio (Monza); midfielders Alessandro Romano (Cagliari) and Issa Doumbia (Sporting CP); and forwards Sebastiano Esposito (Sassuolo), Antonio Vergara (Napoli) and Mohamed Alì Zoma (Nürnberg).
Honest Ahanor (Crystal Palace) and Samuele Inacio (Borussia Dortmund) retain places after June friendlies. Nicolò Fagioli and Nicolò Zaniolo return after last featuring in October 2024, while Rolando Mandragora is back for the first time since March 2021.
Mancini framed the youth focus as deliberate. “I think it’s right to have young players so we can get to know them directly… We have to be quick to understand who could be the players that could be with us for the next four years,” he said.
Goalkeepers include Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Guglielmo Vicario (Juventus) and Pessina. Established names such as Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Nicolò Barella, Sandro Tonali, Moise Kean and Giacomo Raspadori remain central options alongside the newcomers.
Diana Bianchedi makes her debut as head of delegation — the first woman to hold the role for the men’s national team.
Window ahead
After Belgium, Italy travel to Bursa to face Türkiye on 28 September, visit Zinédine Zidane’s France at the Stade de France on 2 October, and host Türkiye again in Bologna on 5 October. November brings France in Milan and Belgium in Brussels.
Off the pitch, Claudio Ranieri and Gianfranco Zola have taken technical and youth-project roles. Mancini’s return was divisive among supporters who criticised his 2023 departure for Saudi Arabia; at his presentation he said the Italy shirt was “like losing the love of my life.” Friday’s match is the first chance for the reboot to be judged on the pitch.
Sources
- FIGC — Italy and Mancini begin again in the Nations League: 34 players named, including nine new faces
- France24 / AFP — Italy hope for new dawn under Mancini