List of Italy national football team captains

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Francesco Calì was the first captain of the Italy 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).

Gianluigi Buffon wore the captain band the most times: 80.[2]

Gianluigi Buffon is also the goalkeeper who has worn the captain band the most times: 80.

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 Donnarumma is the current captain of the national team.

List of captains by appearances

Updated as of 31 March 2026.[3]

Players in bold are still active. Players in italics served as the designated captain for his captaincy period.

More information #, Name ...
# Name Captain Appearances Goals National years Captaincy years Ref
1 Gianluigi Buffon 80 176 0 1997–2018 2010–2018[nb 1]
2 Fabio Cannavaro 79 136 2 1997–2010 2002–2010[nb 2]
3 Paolo Maldini 74 126 7 1988–2002 1994–2002
4 Giacinto Facchetti 70 94 3 1963–1977 1966–1977
5 Dino Zoff 59 112 0 1968–1983 1977–1983
6 Giuseppe Bergomi 33 81 6 1982–1998 1988–1991
7 Gianluigi Donnarumma 32 81 0 2016– 2021–
8 Franco Baresi 31 81 1 1982–1994 1991–1994
9 Adolfo Baloncieri 27 47 25 1920–1930 1927–1930
10 Renzo De Vecchi 26 43 0 1910–1925 1920–1925
10 Leonardo Bonucci 26 121 8 2010–2023 2014–2023
12 Giampiero Boniperti 24 38 7 1947–1960 1952–1960
13 Giorgio Chiellini 22 117 8 2004–2022 2012–2022
14 Giuseppe Meazza 17 53 33 1930–1939 1937–1939
14 Sandro Salvadore 17 36 2 1960–1970 1963–1966
16 Umberto Caligaris 16 59 0 1922–1934 1931–1934
17 Giuseppe Milano 11 11 0 1911–1914 1911–1914
18 Gaetano Scirea 10 78 2 1975–1986 1984–1986
19 Luigi Allemandi 9 24 0 1925–1936 1934–1936
19 Silvio Piola 9 34 30 1935–1952 1940–1952
19 Marco Tardelli 9 81 6 1976–1985 1983–1985
19 Antonio Cabrini 9 73 9 1978–1987 1983–1987
19 Andrea Pirlo 9 116 13 2002–2015 2010–2015
24 Alessandro Altobelli 8 61 25 1980–1988 1986–1987
24 Virginio Rosetta 8 52 0 1920–1934 1929–1934
26 Riccardo Carapellese 7 16 10 1947–1956 1949–1950
26 Luigi Cevenini 7 29 11 1915–1929 1925–1929
26 Alessandro Del Piero 7 91 27 1995–2008 2004–2008
29 Demetrio Albertini 6 79 3 1991–2002 1996–2000
29 Carlo Annovazzi 6 17 0 1947–1952 1951–1952
29 Lorenzo Buffon 6 15 0 1958–1962 1961–1962
29 Sergio Cervato 6 28 4 1951–1960 1955–1959
29 Daniele De Rossi 6 117 21 2004–2017 2007–2017
29 Virgilio Fossati 6 12 1 1910–1915 1912–1915
29 Cesare Maldini 6 14 0 1960–1963 1962–1963
36 Gianpiero Combi 5 47 0 1924–1934 1931–1934
36 Alessandro Mazzola 5 70 22 1963–1974 1972
36 Valentino Mazzola 5 12 4 1942–1949 1947–1949
36 Egisto Pandolfini 5 21 9 1950–1957 1952–1955
40 Giancarlo Antognoni 4 73 7 1974–1983 1977–1981
40 Ciro Immobile 4 57 17 2014–2023 2018–2023
40 Gianni Rivera 4 60 14 1962–1974 1964–1965
43 Alessandro Costacurta 3 59 2 1991–1998 1995–1997
43 Attilio Ferraris 3 28 0 1926–1935 1934–1935
43 Alessandro Florenzi 3 49 2 2012–2022 2020–2022
43 Alessandro Nesta 3 78 0 1996–2006 2004
43 Gianluca Vialli 3 59 16 1985–1992 1989–1992
48 Nicolò Barella 2 70 10 2018– 2024–
48 Romeo Benetti 2 55 2 1971–1980 1978–1979
48 Giacomo Bulgarelli 2 29 7 1962–1967 1966
48 Francesco Calì 2 2 0 1910 1910
48 Giulio Cappelli 2 2 1 1936–1936 1936
48 Fulvio Collovati 2 50 3 1979–1986 1985
48 Giovanni Ferrari 2 44 14 1930–1938 1938
48 Pietro Ferraris 2 14 3 1935–1947 1947
48 Alfredo Foni 2 23 0 1936–1942 1936
48 Gennaro Gattuso 2 73 1 2000–2010 2009
48 Alberto Gilardino 2 57 19 2004–2013 2011–2013
48 Jorginho 2 57 5 2016–2024 2021–2024
48 Ardico Magnini 2 20 0 1953–1957 1956–1957
48 Marco Materazzi 2 41 2 2001–2008 2004–2005
48 Riccardo Montolivo 2 66 2 2007–2017 2013–2014
48 Miguel Montuori 2 12 2 1956–1960 1959–1960
48 Maino Neri 2 8 0 1948–1954 1948
48 Gianluca Pagliuca 2 39 0 1990–1998 1994–1995
48 Pietro Rava 2 30 0 1935–1946 1939–1942
48 Armando Segato 2 20 0 1953–1959 1958–1959
48 Marco Verratti 2 55 3 2012–2023 2019–2023
48 Gianluca Zambrotta 2 98 2 1999–2010 2010
70 Massimo Ambrosini 1 35 0 1999–2008 2006
70 Roberto Baggio 1 56 27 1988–2004 1992
70 Federico Bernardeschi 1 39 6 2016–2022 2021
70 Fulvio Bernardini 1 26 3 1925–1932 1932
70 Sergio Brighenti 1 9 2 1959–1961 1961
70 Tarcisio Burgnich 1 66 2 1963–1974 1973
70 Piero Campelli 1 11 0 1912–1921 1920
70 Antonio Cassano 1 39 10 2003–2014 2011
70 Gino Colaussi 1 25 15 1935–1940 1939
70 Bryan Cristante 1 48 2 2017– 2025–
70 Giovanni Di Lorenzo 1 53 5 2019– 2024–
70 Antonio Di Natale 1 42 11 2002–2012 2009
70 Stephan El Shaarawy 1 32 7 2012– 2020
70 Ciro Ferrara 1 49 0 1987–2000 2000
70 Claudio Gentile 1 71 1 1975–1984 1984
70 Mario Gianni 1 6 0 1927–1933 1932
70 Lorenzo Insigne 1 54 10 2012–2022 2018
70 Giacomo Losi 1 11 0 1960–1962 1962
70 Bruno Mora 1 21 4 1959–1965 1962
70 Bruno Nicolè 1 8 2 1958–1964 1961
70 Christian Panucci 1 57 4 1994–2008 2003
70 Angelo Peruzzi 1 31 0 1995–2006 2005
70 Alfredo Pitto 1 29 2 1928–1935 1935
70 Giuseppe Rossi 1 30 7 2008–2014 2010
70 Aristodemo Santamaria 1 11 3 1915–1923 1921
70 Angelo Schiavio 1 21 15 1925–1934 1933
70 Salvatore Sirigu 1 28 0 2010–2021 2020
70 Luca Toni 1 47 16 2004–2009 2005
Total 97 players 897 1910–2026 1910–2026
Close

List of captains by captaincy period

List of captaincy periods of the various captains throughout the years.[13]

Notes

  1. [1]
    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.[4] Although Buffon was officially named Italy's new captain in 2010,[5] following Fabio Cannavaro's retirement subsequent to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Andrea Pirlo was named the Italy national team's acting captain after the tournament (while Daniele De Rossi was named the team's second acting captain),[5][6][7] 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.[5][8][9][10]
  2. [2]
    During UEFA Euro 2008, Alessandro Del Piero was named the Italy 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.[11][12][4]

References

External links

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