Italia Azzurra

Italy Under-21

Nickname(s)	Azzurrini (Little Blues)
Association	Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio
Head coach	Pierluigi Casiraghi
Captain	Marco Motta
Most caps	Andrea Pirlo (46)
Top scorer	Alberto Gilardino (19)
Home colours Away colours
First international
U23: Italy 3-1 Austria Varese, November 1, 1970 U21: Portugal 1-0 Italy Funchal, December 23, 1976
Biggest win
Italy 7-0 Estonia Catanzaro, March 23, 1995 Italy 8-1 Wales Pavia, September 5, 2003
Biggest defeat
Norway 6-0 Italy Stavanger, June 5, 1991 Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	13 (First in 1978)
Best result	Winners: 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004

The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Italian Under-21 team was formed. Until 1990, the team had a very good record - reaching the last eight of each of the first seven UEFA U-21 Championships. From 1990 to 2004 the team established near-total dominance of European Under-21 football, winning five of the seven tournaments. It is the most successful nation in the history of the competition.

The lowest point for the team came in 1997, when it failed to qualify for the 1998 finals. The team won the 2004 tournament finals in Germany. In the 2006 tournament finals in Portugal the team failed to advance to second round. This was Italy's 14th U-21 finals tournament.

Italy's Under-21s played the first match at the new Wembley Stadium, on 24 March 2007, against England Under-21s. The game resulted in a 3-3 draw, with Giampaolo Pazzini scoring all 3 goals for the Azzurrini.

In the 2007 U21 Championships Italy finished a disappointing third in their finals group, their worst finish since 1988. However, the team managed to gain qualification for the football at the 2008 Summer Olympics, beating Portugal on penalties in a playoff.

Prior to the 2008 Olympic games, Italy U-21s went on to win the 2008 Toulon Tournament by beating Chile (1-0) in the final. It was the first time they had won this tournament, previously their best had been runner-up on two occasions^[1].