List of Italy national football team captains

This is a list of all the captains who played for the Italy national football team.

Francesco Calì was the first captain of the Italian national football team.^[1]

The only players who were captains in all matches they have played in the national team were Giuseppe Milano (11 appearances), Francesco Calì (2 caps) and Giulio Cappelli (2 caps).

Fabio Cannavaro is the player who has worn the captain band the most times: 79.^[2]

Gianluigi Buffon is the goalkeeper who has worn the captain band the most times: 70.

Valentino Mazzola and Sandro Mazzola as well as Cesare Maldini and Paolo Maldini are the only cases of father and son who have worn the captain band during their respective times on the national team. Goalkeepers, Gianluigi Buffon and Lorenzo Buffon are distant cousins. Attilio Ferraris and Pietro Ferraris, despite the same surname, are not relatives.

Gianluigi Buffon is the current captain of the national team.

List of captains

Updated as of 15 November 2016.^[3]

Position	Name	Appearances	Goals	Captain	National years	Captaincy years	Ref
1	Fabio Cannavaro[nb 1]	136	2	79	1997–2010	2002–2010[nb 2]
2	Paolo Maldini[nb 1]	126	7	74	1988–2002	1994–2002
3	Gianluigi Buffon[nb 1]	167	0	70	1997–	2010–present[nb 3]
3	Giacinto Facchetti[nb 1]	94	3	70	1963–1977	1966–1977
5	Dino Zoff[nb 1]	112	0	59	1968–1983	1977–1983
6	Giuseppe Bergomi[nb 1]	81	6	33	1982–1998	1988–1991
7	Franco Baresi[nb 1]	81	1	31	1982–1994	1991–1994
8	Adolfo Baloncieri[nb 1]	47	25	27	1920–1930	1927–1930
9	Renzo De Vecchi[nb 1]	43	0	26	1910–1925	1920–1925
10	Giampiero Boniperti[nb 1]	38	7	24	1947–1960	1952–1960
11	Giuseppe Meazza[nb 1]	53	33	17	1930–1939	1937–1939
11	Sandro Salvadore[nb 1]	36	2	17	1960–1970	1963–1966
13	Umberto Caligaris[nb 1]	59	0	16	1922–1934	1931–1934
14	Giuseppe Milano[nb 1]	11	0	11	1911–1914	1911–1914
15	Gaetano Scirea[nb 1]	78	2	10	1975–1986	1985–1986
16	Antonio Cabrini[nb 1]	73	9	9	1978–1987	1986–1987
16	Marco Tardelli[nb 1]	81	6	9	1976–1985	1983–1985
16	Silvio Piola[nb 1]	34	30	9	1935–1952	1940–1947
16	Luigi Allemandi[nb 1]	24	0	9	1925–1936	1935–1936
16	Andrea Pirlo	116	13	9	2002–	2010–
21	Alessandro Altobelli	61	25	8	1979–1988	1987–1988
21	Virginio Rosetta	52	0	8	1920–1934	1931–1932
23	Luigi Cevenini[nb 1]	29	11	7	1915–1929	1925–1927
23	Riccardo Carapellese[nb 1]	16	10	7	1947–1956	1949–1950
25	Demetrio Albertini	79	3	6	1989–2002	1999–2001
25	Alessandro Del Piero	91	27	6	1995–2008	2004–2008
25	Sergio Cervato	28	4	6	1951–1960	1956–1957
25	Carlo Annovazzi[nb 1]	17	0	6	1947–1952	1951–1952
25	Lorenzo Buffon[nb 1]	15	0	6	1958–1962	1961–1962
25	Cesare Maldini[nb 1]	14	0	6	1960–1963	1962–1963
25	Virgilio Fossati[nb 1]	12	1	6	1910–1915	1914–1915
32	Alessandro Mazzola	70	22	5	1963–1974	1972
32	Gianpiero Combi[nb 1]	47	0	5	1924–1934	1934
32	Egisto Pandolfini	21	9	5	1950–1957	1954
32	Valentino Mazzola[nb 1]	12	4	5	1942–1949	1947–1949
36	Daniele De Rossi	110	19	4	2004–	2007–
36	Giancarlo Antognoni	73	7	4	1974–1983	1977–1981
36	Gianni Rivera	60	14	4	1962–1974	1964–1965
39	Giorgio Chiellini	90	7	3	2004–	2012–
39	Attilio Ferraris	28	0	3	1926–1935	1934–1935
39	Alberto Gilardino	57	19	3	2004–	2011–
39	Alessandro Nesta	78	0	3	1996–2006	2004
39	Gianluca Vialli	59	16	3	1985–1992	1989–1992
44	Romeo Benetti	55	2	2	1971–1980	1978–1979
44	Leonardo Bonucci	67	4	2	2010–	2014–
44	Giacomo Bulgarelli	29	7	2	1962–1967	1966
44	Francesco Calì[nb 1]	2	0	2	1910	1910
44	Giulio Cappelli	2	1	2	1936	1936
44	Fulvio Collovati	50	3	2	1979–1986	1985
44	Giovanni Ferrari	44	14	2	1930–1938	1938
44	Pietro Ferraris	14	3	2	1935–1947	1947
44	Alfredo Foni	23	0	2	1936–1942	1936
44	Gennaro Gattuso	73	1	2	2000–2010	2009
44	Ardico Magnini	20	0	2	1953–1957	1956–1957
44	Marco Materazzi	41	2	2	2001–2008	2004–2005
44	Riccardo Montolivo	64	2	2	2007–	2013–
44	Miguel Montuori	12	2	2	1956–1960	1959–1960
44	Maino Neri	8	0	2	1948–1954	1948
44	Gianluca Pagliuca	39	0	2	1990–1998	1994–1995
44	Pietro Rava	30	0	2	1935–1946	1939–1942
44	Armando Segato	20	0	2	1953–1959	1958–1959
44	Gianluca Zambrotta	98	2	2	1999–2010	2010
63	Massimo Ambrosini	35	0	1	1999–2008	2006
63	Roberto Baggio	56	27	1	1988–2004	1992
63	Fulvio Bernardini	26	3	1	1925–1932	1932
63	Sergio Brighenti	9	2	1	1959–1961	1961
63	Alessandro Costacurta	59	2	1	1991–1998	1995–1997
63	Tarcisio Burgnich	66	2	1	1963–1974	1973
63	Piero Campelli	11	0	1	1912–1921	1920
63	Antonio Cassano	39	10	1	2003–	2011
63	Gino Colaussi	25	15	1	1935–1940	1939
63	Antonio Di Natale	42	11	1	2002–2012	2009
63	Ciro Ferrara	49	0	1	1987–2000	2000
63	Claudio Gentile	71	1	1	1975–1984	1984
63	Mario Gianni	6	0	1	1927–1933	1932
63	Giacomo Losi	11	0	1	1960–1962	1962
63	Bruno Mora	21	4	1	1959–1965	1962
63	Bruno Nicolè	8	2	1	1958–1964	1961
63	Christian Panucci	57	4	1	1994–2008	2003
63	Angelo Peruzzi	31	0	1	1995–2006	2005
63	Alfredo Pitto	29	2	1	1928–1935	1935
63	Giuseppe Rossi	30	7	1	2008–	2010–
63	Aristodemo Santamaria	11	3	1	1915–1923	1921
63	Angelo Schiavio	21	15	1	1925–1934	1933
63	Luca Toni	47	16	1	2004–2009	2005
Total	85 players			789	1910–2016	1910–2016

• Players in bold are still active.

Notes

1. Served as designated captain for his captaincy period.
2. During UEFA Euro 2008, Alessandro Del Piero was named the Italian national team's acting captain, as Cannavaro was injured and unable to take part in the competition, however Gianluigi Buffon was often played as captain as Del Piero was frequently deployed as a substitute.^[4][5][6]
3. Gianluigi Buffon served as second acting captain in UEFA Euro 2008 after Alessandro Del Piero was named the team's acting captain, as Cannavaro was injured and unable to take part in the competition, however Del Piero was frequently deployed as a substitute.^[6] Although Buffon was officially named Italy's new captain in 2010,^[7] following Fabio Cannavaro's retirement subsequent to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Andrea Pirlo was named the Italian national team's acting captain after the tournament (while Daniele De Rossi was named the team's second acting captain),^[7][8][9] as Buffon was ruled out until the end of the year due to injury, and only made his first appearance as Italy's official captain on 9 February 2011, in a 1–1 friendly away draw against Germany.^{[7][10][11][12]}

References

1. "Franz Calì: il primo capitano raccontato in un libro" [Franz Calì: the first captain recounted in a book] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
2. "Founders: Fabio Cannavaro". Fondazione Cannavaro-Ferrara. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
3. "Capitani" [Captains]. FIGC.it (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
4. Gaetano DeStefano (2 June 2008). "Italia, è già dopo Cannavaro Arriva Gamberini, chi gioca?" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
5. Maurizio Nicita (12 June 2008). "Buffon, niente fascia Il capitano è Del Piero" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
6. Paolo Menicucci (10 June 2008). "L'Italia parte male, l'Olanda cala il tris" [Italy start badly, Holland score three] (in Italian). UEFA. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
7. Andrea Santoni (27 June 2010). "Buffon, annuncio choc: Mi opero e torno nel 2011" (in Italian). Il Corriere dello Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
8. Riccardo Pratesi (6 August 2010). "Prandelli cambia l'Italia Amauri, Cassano e Balotelli" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
9. "Pirlo, ricetta Nazionale "Ritroviamo la qualità"" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
10. "Motta, Giovinco and Matri news. Among the 23 players Buffon's return". FIGC. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
11. "Il gol di Rossi salva l'Italia: 1-1" (in Italian). Mediaset. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
12. Micaela Del Monte (29 March 2012). "Capitani Azzurri: Gianluigi Buffon (2008 - Oggi)" (in Italian). TuttoNazionali.com. Retrieved 23 July 2016.

External links

• Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio - Captains