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France–Italy football rivalry

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The France–Italy football rivalry is a football rivalry between the national football teams of Italy and France,[1][2][3][4] having achieved six FIFA World Cups and four UEFA European Championships between the two countries. Italy has won four FIFA World Cups in 1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006, while France has won two FIFA World Cups in 1998 and 2018.

France–Italy football rivalry
France–Italy match on 20 February 1921
LocationEurope (UEFA)
Teams France
 Italy
First meetingItaly 6–2 France
Friendly
(15 May 1910)
Latest meetingFrance 1–3 Italy
UEFA Nations League
(6 September 2024)
Next meetingItaly v France
UEFA Nations League
(17 November 2024)
Statistics
Meetings total40
Most winsItaly (19)
All-time seriesItaly: 19
Draw: 10
France: 11
Largest victoryItaly 7–0 France
Friendly
(22 March 1925)
Largest goal scoringItaly 9–4 France
Friendly
(18 January 1920)
France–Italy football rivalry is located in Europe
France
France
Italy
Italy

For many years Italy dominated (before 1982: 17 wins, three losses, and six draws), while from 1982, the French team had not lost one regulation game against Italy (with five wins and four draws) until the 2006 World Cup Final, which Italy won 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, however, FIFA considers it a draw, with the winner earning an additional point. France did, however, lost the UEFA Euro 2008 Group C match against Italy 2–0.[5]

The two countries also met in the final of the 2000 European Championship, won by France with an extra-time golden goal by David Trezeguet.

List of matches

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Number Date Location Competition Game Results
1 15 May 1910   Milan Friendly Italy – France 6–2
(a)
2 9 April 1911   Saint-Ouen / Paris France – Italy 2–2
3 17 March 1912   Turin Italy – France 3–4
4 12 January 1913   Saint-Ouen / Paris France – Italy 1–0
5 29 March 1914   Turin Italy – France 2–0
6 18 January 1920   Milan Italy – France 9–4
7 29 August 1920   Antwerp 1920 Summer Olympics France – Italy 3–1
8 20 February 1921   Marseille Friendly France – Italy 1–2
9 22 March 1925   Turin Italy – France 7–0
10 24 April 1927   Colombes / Paris France – Italy 3–3
11 29 May 1928   Amsterdam 1928 Summer Olympics France – Italy 3–4
12 25 January 1931   Bologna Friendly Italy – France 5–0
13 10 April 1932   Colombes / Paris France – Italy 1–2
14 17 February 1935   Rome Italy – France 2–1
15 5 December 1937   Paris France – Italy 0–0
16 12 June 1938   Colombes / Paris 1938 World Cup France – Italy 1–3
(b)
17 4 December 1938   Naples Friendly Italy – France 1–0
18 4 April 1948   Colombes / Paris France – Italy 1–3
19 3 June 1951   Genoa Italy – France 4–1
20 11 April 1954   Colombes / Paris France – Italy 1–3
21 5 May 1956   Bologna Italy – France 2–0
22 9 November 1958   Colombes / Paris France – Italy 2–2
23 5 May 1962   Florence Italy – France 2–1
24 19 March 1966   Paris France – Italy 0–0
25 8 February 1978   Naples Italy – France 2–2
26 2 June 1978   Mar del Plata 1978 World Cup Italy – France 2–1
27 23 February 1982   Paris Friendly France – Italy 2–0
28 17 June 1986   Mexico City 1986 World Cup Italy – France 0–2
29 16 February 1994   Naples Friendly Italy – France 0–1
30 11 June 1997   Paris Tournoi de France France – Italy 2–2
31 3 July 1998   Saint Denis 1998 World Cup France – Italy 0–0
(c)
32 2 July 2000   Rotterdam Euro 2000 final France – Italy 2–1
(d)
33 9 July 2006   Berlin 2006 World Cup final Italy – France 1–1
(e)
34 6 September 2006   Paris Euro 2008 qualifier France – Italy 3–1
35 8 September 2007   Milan Italy – France 0–0
36 17 June 2008   Zürich Euro 2008 France – Italy 0–2
37 14 November 2012   Parma Friendly Italy – France 1–2
38 1 September 2016   Bari Italy – France 1–3
39 1 June 2018   Nice France – Italy 3–1
40 6 September 2024   Paris 2024–25 Nations League France – Italy 1–3
41 17 November 2024   Milan Italy – France

Comparison of France's and Italy's positions in major international tournaments

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Key

  Denotes which team finished better in that particular competition.
DNQ: Did not qualify.
DNP: Did not participate.
TBD: To be determined.

Tournament   France   Italy Notes
1930 World Cup 7th DNP
1934 World Cup 9th 1st Tournament played in Italy.
1938 World Cup 6th 1st Tournament played in France. In the quarter-finals, Italy defeated France 3–1.
1950 World Cup DNP 7th
1954 World Cup 11th 10th
1958 World Cup 3rd DNQ
Euro 1960 4th DNP Tournament played in France.
1962 World Cup DNQ 9th
Euro 1964 DNQ DNQ
1966 World Cup 13th 9th
Euro 1968 DNQ 1st Tournament played in Italy.
1970 World Cup DNQ 2nd
Euro 1972 DNQ DNQ
1974 World Cup DNQ 10th
Euro 1976 DNQ DNQ
1978 World Cup 12th 4th France and Italy were placed in the same first round group. Italy defeated France 2–1, in the match between the two teams, as France did not progress out of the group.
Euro 1980 DNQ 4th Tournament played in Italy.
1982 World Cup 4th 1st
Euro 1984 1st DNQ Tournament played in France.
1986 World Cup 3rd 12th In the round of 16, France defeated Italy 2–0.
Euro 1988 DNQ 4th
1990 World Cup DNQ 3rd Tournament played in Italy.
Euro 1992 6th DNQ
1994 World Cup DNQ 2nd
Euro 1996 4th 10th
1998 World Cup 1st 5th In the quarter-finals, France defeated Italy 4–3 on penalties after extra time. Tournament played in France.
Euro 2000 1st 2nd In the final, France defeated Italy 2–1 with a golden goal in extra time.
2002 World Cup 28th 15th
Euro 2004 6th 9th
2006 World Cup 2nd 1st In the final, Italy defeated France 5–3 on penalties.
Euro 2008 15th 8th France and Italy were placed in the same first round group. Italy defeated France 2–0, in the match between the two teams, as France did not progress out of the group.
2010 World Cup 29th 26th Both defending finalists were eliminated in the group stage, the first time this occurred.
Euro 2012 8th 2nd
2014 World Cup 7th 22nd
Euro 2016 2nd 5th Tournament played in France.
2018 World Cup 1st DNQ
Euro 2020 11th 1st Some games of the tournament played in Italy.
2022 World Cup 2nd DNQ
Euro 2024 4th 14th

Major encounters

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1938 FIFA World Cup

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On 12 June, France and Italy were matched up in the quarter-final of the 1938 FIFA World Cup, which ended 3–1 in favour of Italy with goals by Gino Colaussi in the 9th minute and two goals by Silvio Piola in the 51st and 72nd minute, with France's only goal coming from Oscar Heisserer in the 10th minute, as France were eliminated (being the first World Cup's hosts to fail to win the tournament at home).[6] Italy went on to win their second World Cup title in succession.

France  1–3  Italy
Heisserer   10' Report Colaussi   9'
Piola   51', 72'
Attendance: 58,455
Referee: Louis Baert (Belgium)

1978 FIFA World Cup

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On 2 June, Italy and France met in the first group stage match of the 1978 FIFA World Cup, which ended 2–1 for Italy after goals by Paolo Rossi in the 29th minute and Renato Zaccarelli in the 54th minute, although France scored first in the 1st minute of play with a goal by Bernard Lacombe.[7] Italy later made it out of the group, but France did not.

Italy  2–1  France
Rossi   29'
Zaccarelli   54'		 Report Lacombe   1'
Attendance: 38,100

1986 FIFA World Cup

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On 17 June, Italy and France met in the round of 16 of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, which ended with France eliminating Italy from the tournament 2–0 with goals by Michel Platini in the 15th minute and Yannick Stopyra in the 57th minute.[8]

Italy  0–2  France
Report Platini   15'
Stopyra   57'
Attendance: 70,000

1998 FIFA World Cup

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On 3 July, Italy and France were matched up for a quarter-final of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which ended in a goalless draw after 120 minutes. In the shoot-out, France won 4–3 to advance[9] and went on to win the 1998 World Cup 3–0 over Brazil.

Italy  0–0 (a.e.t.)  France
Report
Penalties
R. Baggio  
Albertini  
Costacurta  
Vieri  
Di Biagio  		 3–4   Zidane
  Lizarazu
  Trezeguet
  Henry
  Blanc
Attendance: 77,000

UEFA Euro 2000

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Main article: UEFA Euro 2000 Final

On 2 July, Marco Delvecchio gave Italy the lead in the 55th minute and they held on until the final minute of injury time, when Sylvain Wiltord crashed a low drive past Italian keeper Francesco Toldo to take the game into extra time.[10] France won the game just before half-time in extra-time when Robert Pires cut the ball back for David Trezeguet to blast the golden goal into the top left corner of the net to win the tournament 2–1 for France.[11][12]

France  2–1 (a.e.t.)  Italy
 Report Delvecchio   55'
Attendance: 48,200
Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

2006 FIFA World Cup

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Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup Final

On 9 July, France and Italy faced off in the final. Zinedine Zidane opened the scoring by converting a controversial 7th-minute penalty kick,[13] conceded by Marco Materazzi, which glanced off the underside of the crossbar and into the goal. Materazzi then levelled the scores in the 19th minute, a header from six yards following an Andrea Pirlo corner from the right. Both teams had chances to score the winning goal in normal time: Luca Toni hit the crossbar in the 35th minute for Italy, later having a header disallowed for offside, while France were not awarded a possible second penalty in the 53rd minute when Florent Malouda went down in the box after a cover tackle from Gianluca Zambrotta. The reverse angle review anyway clears that there was no penalty and the referee took the right decision. France appeared to be the side with better chances to win because of the higher number of shots on goal. However Italy defended well, making them unable to capitalise, and the score remained at one goal each.

At the end of the regulation time, the score was still level at 1–1, and the match was forced into extra time. Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon made a potentially game-saving save in extra time when he tipped a Zidane header over the crossbar.

Almost five minutes into the second half of extra time, Zidane and Materazzi were jogging up the pitch close to each other, they briefly exchanged words after Materazzi was seen tugging at Zidane's jersey before Zidane began to walk away from him. Moments later, Zidane suddenly stopped, turned around and head-butted Materazzi's chest, knocking him to the ground. Although play was halted, referee Horacio Elizondo did not appear to have seen the confrontation. According to match officials' reports, fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo informed Elizondo of the incident through his headset.[14] After consulting his assistants, Elizondo issued Zidane a red card in the 110th minute.[15]

Despite Italy being one man up for the last ten minutes of extra time, no team managed to score and remained 1–1, as the match went to penalty shoot-out.

The French David Trezeguet was the only player to miss his penalty kick as it hit the crossbar and the ball did not cross the goal line, while Fabio Grosso scored the winner for Italy as the Italians won the shoot-out 5–3.[16]

After the match, Zidane was given the Golden Ball award as the tournament's best player. Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo, both from Italy, placed second and third respectively.

Italy  1–1 (a.e.t.)  France
 Report
Penalties
 5–3
Attendance: 69,000[17]

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

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Both teams were drawn together in Group B of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying.[18][19][20] The French beat the Italians 3–1 in Paris before drawing 0–0 in Milan.[21][22] Both teams qualified for the tournament after Italy beat the nearest group contenders Scotland 2–1.[23]

France  3–1  Italy
Govou   2', 55'
Henry   18'		 Report Gilardino   20'
Attendance: 78,831
Italy  0–0  France
Report
Attendance: 81,200

UEFA Euro 2008

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Italy and France met in the final group stage match of UEFA Euro 2008 on 17 June, having played twice previously in the Euro qualifiers and four times competitively since 2000.[24][18] Both sides needed a win to have a shot to progress to the next round, but both would be eliminated no matter what if Romania defeated the Netherlands in the other match. Italian goals by Andrea Pirlo from the penalty spot in the 25th minute and Daniele De Rossi in the 62nd minute gave Italy a 2–0 win over France, which allowed them to progress to the quarter-final (as Romania lost to the Netherlands), while France was eliminated.[25]

France  0–2  Italy
Report
Attendance: 30,585[26]

2024–25 UEFA Nations League

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Both teams were drawn together in Group 2 of the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A.[27][28]

France  1–3  Italy
 Report
Attendance: 44,956[29]
Italy  v  France
Report

Statistics

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Overall

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As of 6 September 2024
Matches Wins Draws Goals
France Italy France Italy
FIFA World Cup 5 1 2 2* 5 6
UEFA European Championship 4 2 1 1 5 4
Olympics 2 1 1 0 6 5
UEFA Nations League 1 0 1 0 1 3
All competitions 12 4 5 3 17 18
Friendly 27 7 14 6 38 65
Tournoi de France 1 0 0 1 2 2
All matches 40 11 19 10 57 85

Note: *France defeated Italy in a 1998 World Cup quarter-final match via penalty shoot-out; Italy defeated France in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final via penalty shoot-out.

Official titles comparison

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Senior titles France Italy
World Cup
2
4
FIFA Confederations Cup
2
0
Olympics
1
1
Artemio Franchi Trophy
1
0
European Championship
2
2
Nations League
1
0
Total titles
9
7

Note: Only the Olympic Games from 1908 to 1956 are officially recognized by FIFA / IFFHS.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "CI RISIAMO: ITALIA-FRANCIA Un'accesa rivalità che parte da lontano" (in Italian). federtennis.it. 30 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Storia recente di Italia-Francia" (in Italian). fantagazzetta.com. 14 November 2012. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Italia-Francia Le antiche ossessioni le rivalità profonde e più amore che odio". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 7 July 2006. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Italia e Francia di nuovo contro dopo 4 anni: storia di una grande rivalità" (in Italian). today.it. 12 November 2012.
  5. ^ France – Italy (Head-To-Head) at FIFA.com
  6. ^ "Match Report France - Italy". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015.
  7. ^ "Match Report Italy - France". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015.
  8. ^ "Match Report Italy - France". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016.
  9. ^ "Match Report Italy - France". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015.
  10. ^ "France 2 Italy 1". BBC Sport. 2 July 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  11. ^ "Trezeguet strikes gold for France". UEFA. 2 July 2000. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  12. ^ "France 2 - 1 Italy". Guardian UK. 2 July 2000. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  13. ^ Stevenson, Jonathan (9 July 2006). "Italy 1–1 France (aet)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  14. ^ "Fourth Official: I saw Zidane's Headbutt". ESPNsoccernet. 11 July 2006. Archived from the original on 18 July 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2006.
  15. ^ Williams, Richard (10 July 2006). "Zidane exits the stage with a walk of shame". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 29 September 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2006.
  16. ^ Stevenson, Jonathan (9 July 2006). "Italy 1–1 France (aet)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  17. ^ a b c "Italy – France". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  18. ^ a b "Italy and France resume love hate relationship". Reuters. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  19. ^ "Scotland meet French and Italians". 27 January 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  20. ^ Smyth, Rob (27 January 2006). "Euro 2008 draw - live!". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  21. ^ "France 3-1 Italy". 6 September 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  22. ^ "Italy coach not worried about slipping to third". Reuters. 8 September 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  23. ^ "Scotland 1-2 Italy". 17 November 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  24. ^ Lowe, Felix (2 December 2007). "Italy, Holland and France drawn together". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  25. ^ "France sunk as Italy grab lifeline in EURO 2008 Group C". UEFA. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  26. ^ "Full-time report France-Italy" (PDF). Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  27. ^ "France, Italy, Belgium drawn in same UNL group". ESPN.com. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  28. ^ "Italy and France drawn together in Nations League group". Reuters. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  29. ^ "France vs. Italy" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 6 September 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
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