Italy B was created in 1927, to give the possibility to test under-21 or less experienced players, in addition to those involved with the senior national team. made their debut at the Stade de la Frontière in Esch-sur-Alzette on 17 April 1927, beating Luxembourg's A team 5-1. The selector of the team was Renzo De Vecchi. The team also had elements of some experience, such as Luigi Cevenini, the author of the first goal.[2]
Until the Second World War the use of this national team was very frequent, so much so that between 1929 and 1939, a total of 38 matches were played, the most notable of which being the team's biggest ever victory, when they again beat Luxembourg A, 12-0, at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia in Como, on 10 April 1932.[1]
Their first meeting after the war was a match played in Locarno on 11 November 1945 by a team from northern Italy, which beat Switzerland B 4-1.[1] In May 1949, Italy B participated in the 1949 Eastern Mediterranean Friendship Cup (or Mediterranean Cup), playing three matches in Athens against Turkey A, Egypt A and Greece A, and they won all three games by a 1 goal margin, thus winning the tournament.[3] Italy's top goal scorers in the tournament were Aldo Puccinelli and Alberto Galassi with 3 goals each. They then participated in the following tournament of the Mediterranean Cup, where they faced the A teams of Turkey, Egypt and Greece home and away, and Italy B again won with 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat, with their only loss in the tournament being a 3-0 shock defeat to Egypt at Prince Farouk Stadium, Cairo on 11 November 1951.[4] Italy B also participated in the third and last edition of the Mediterranean Cup, the 1953-58 Mediterranean Cup, with the B teams of Spain and France joining the party to form a six-team tournament, and this time they finished third behind the aforementioned B teams with 3 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses.[5]
The most recent fixture was a non-A friendly with San Marino on 31 May 2017, which ended in an 8-0 win to the Azzurri.[6][7][8]
