France–Italy_football_rivalry

France–Italy football rivalry

France–Italy football rivalry

Football rivalry between the national football teams of France and Italy

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.

Quick Facts Location, Teams ...

For many years Italy dominated (before 1982: 17 wins, three losses and six draws), while from 1982 the French team had not lost a single 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.[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

Number Date Location Competition Game Results
115 May 1910Italy MilanFriendlyItaly – France6–2
(a)
29 April 1911France Saint-Ouen / ParisFrance – Italy2–2
317 March 1912Italy TurinItaly – France3–4
412 January 1913France Saint-Ouen / ParisFrance – Italy1–0
529 March 1914Italy TurinItaly – France2–0
618 January 1920Italy MilanItaly – France9–4
729 August 1920Belgium Antwerp1920 Summer OlympicsFrance – Italy3–1
820 February 1921France MarseilleFriendlyFrance – Italy1–2
922 March 1925Italy TurinItaly – France7–0
1024 April 1927France Colombes / ParisFrance – Italy3–3
1129 May 1928Netherlands Amsterdam1928 Summer OlympicsFrance – Italy3–4
1225 January 1931Italy BolognaFriendlyItaly – France5–0
1310 April 1932France Colombes / ParisFrance – Italy1–2
1417 February 1935Italy RomeItaly – France2–1
155 December 1937France ParisFrance – Italy0–0
1612 June 1938France Colombes / Paris1938 World CupFrance – Italy1–3
(b)
174 December 1938Italy NaplesFriendlyItaly – France1–0
184 April 1948France Colombes / ParisFrance – Italy1–3
193 June 1951Italy GenoaItaly – France4–1
2011 April 1954France Colombes / ParisFrance – Italy1–3
215 May 1956Italy BolognaItaly – France2–0
229 November 1958France Colombes / ParisFrance – Italy2–2
235 May 1962Italy FlorenceItaly – France2–1
2419 March 1966France ParisFrance – Italy0–0
258 February 1978Italy NaplesItaly – France2–2
262 June 1978Argentina Mar del Plata1978 World CupItaly – France2–1
2723 February 1982France ParisFriendlyFrance – Italy2–0
2817 June 1986Mexico Mexico City1986 World CupItaly – France0–2
2916 February 1994Italy NaplesFriendlyItaly – France0–1
3011 June 1997France ParisTournoi de FranceFrance – Italy2–2
313 July 1998France Saint Denis1998 World CupFrance – Italy0–0
(c)
322 July 2000Netherlands RotterdamEuro 2000 finalFrance – Italy2–1
(d)
339 July 2006Germany Berlin2006 World Cup finalItaly – France1–1
(e)
346 September 2006France Paris2008 Euro qualifierFrance – Italy3–1
358 September 2007Italy MilanItaly – France0–0
3617 June 2008Switzerland ZürichEuro 2008France – Italy0–2
3714 November 2012Italy ParmaFriendlyItaly – France1–2
381 September 2016Italy BariItaly – France1–3
391 June 2018France NiceFrance – Italy3–1
406 September 2024France TBD2024–25 Nations LeagueFrance – Italy
4117 November 2024Italy TBDItaly – France

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

Key

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

More information Tournament, Italy ...

Major encounters

1938 FIFA World Cup

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.

More information 1–3, Italy ...
Attendance: 58,455
Referee: Louis Baert (Belgium)

1978 FIFA World Cup

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.

More information Italy, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 38,100

1986 FIFA World Cup

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]

More information Italy, 0–2 ...
Attendance: 70,000

1998 FIFA World Cup

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.

More information Italy, 0–0 (a.e.t.) ...
Attendance: 77,000

UEFA Euro 2000

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]

More information 2–1 (a.e.t.), Italy ...
Attendance: 48,200
Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

2006 FIFA World Cup

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.

More information Italy, 1–1 (a.e.t.) ...
Attendance: 69,000[17]

UEFA Euro 2008

Italy and France met in the final group stage match of UEFA Euro 2008 on 17 June. Both sides needed a win 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.[18]

More information 0–2, Italy ...
Attendance: 30,585[19]

Statistics

Overall

More information Matches, Wins ...

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

More information Senior titles, Italy ...

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

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "CI RISIAMO: ITALIA-FRANCIA Un'accesa rivalità che parte da lontano" (in Italian). federtennis.it. 30 May 2012.
  2. [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. [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. [4]
    "Italia e Francia di nuovo contro dopo 4 anni: storia di una grande rivalità" (in Italian). today.it. 12 November 2012.
  5. [5]
    France – Italy (Head-To-Head) at FIFA.com
  6. [6]
    "Match Report France - Italy". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015.
  7. [7]
    "Match Report Italy - France". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015.
  8. [8]
    "Match Report Italy - France". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016.
  9. [9]
    "Match Report Italy - France". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015.
  10. [10]
    "France 2 Italy 1". BBC Sport. 2 July 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  11. [11]
    "Trezeguet strikes gold for France". UEFA. 2 July 2000. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  12. [12]
    "France 2 - 1 Italy". Guardian UK. 2 July 2000. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  13. [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. [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. [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. [16]
    Stevenson, Jonathan (9 July 2006). "Italy 1–1 France (aet)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  17. [17]
    "Italy – France". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  18. [18]
    "France sunk as Italy grab lifeline". UEFA. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  19. [19]
    "Full-time report France-Italy" (PDF). Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
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