The national football teams of Italy and France are rivals, 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.
For many years Italy dominated (before 1982: 17 wins, three losses, and six draws), while from 1982, the French team had not lost one regulation 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, however, FIFA considers it a draw. France did, however, lose the UEFA Euro 2008 Group C match against Italy 2–0.France – Italy (Head-To-Head) at FIFA.com
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 # Date Location Competition Winner Score 1 15 May 1910 Milan Friendly Italy 2 9 April 1911 Saint-Ouen (draw) 3 17 March 1912 Turin France 4 12 January 1913 Saint-Ouen France 5 29 March 1914 Turin Italy 6 18 January 1920 Milan Italy 7 29 August 1920 Antwerp 1920 Summer Olympics France 8 20 February 1921 Marseille Friendly Italy 9 22 March 1925 Turin Italy 10 24 April 1927 Colombes (draw) 11 29 May 1928 Amsterdam 1928 Summer Olympics Italy 12 25 January 1931 Bologna Friendly Italy 13 10 April 1932 Colombes Italy 14 17 February 1935 Rome Italy 15 5 December 1937 Paris (draw) 16 12 June 1938 Colombes 1938 World Cup Italy 17 4 December 1938 Naples Friendly Italy 18 4 April 1948 Colombes Italy 19 3 June 1951 Genoa Italy 20 11 April 1954 Colombes Italy 21 5 May 1956 Bologna Italy 22 9 November 1958 Colombes (draw) 23 5 May 1962 Florence Italy 24 19 March 1966 Paris (draw) 25 8 February 1978 Naples (draw) 26 2 June 1978 Mar del Plata 1978 World Cup Italy 27 23 February 1982 Paris Friendly France 28 17 June 1986 Mexico City 1986 World Cup France 29 16 February 1994 Naples Friendly France 30 11 June 1997 Paris Tournoi de France (draw) 31 3 July 1998 Saint-Denis 1998 World Cup France 32 2 July 2000 Rotterdam Euro 2000 France 33 9 July 2006 Berlin 2006 World Cup Italy 34 6 September 2006 Paris 2008 Euro qualifier France 35 8 September 2007 Milan (draw) 36 17 June 2008 Zürich Euro 2008 Italy 37 14 November 2012 Parma Friendly France 38 1 September 2016 Bari France 39 1 June 2018 Nice France 40 6 September 2024 Paris 2024–25 Nations League Italy 41 17 November 2024 Milan France 42 2 October 2026 Saint-Denis 2026–27 Nations League (draw) 43 12 November 2026 Milan TBD
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.
TournamentNotes1930 FIFA World Cup7thDNP1934 FIFA World Cup9th1stTournament played in Italy.1938 FIFA World Cup6thTournament played in France. In the quarter-finals, Italy defeated France 3–1.1950 FIFA World CupDNP7th 1954 FIFA World Cup11th10th1958 FIFA World Cup3rdDNQEuro 19604thDNPTournament played in France.1962 FIFA World CupDNQ9thEuro 1964DNQ1966 FIFA World Cup13th9thEuro 1968DNQ1stTournament played in Italy.1970 FIFA World Cup2ndEuro 1972DNQ1974 FIFA World Cup10thEuro 1976DNQ1978 FIFA World Cup12th4thFrance and Italy were placed in the same first round group. Italy defeated France 2–1, in the match between the two teams, as France did not progress out of the group.Euro 1980DNQ4thTournament played in Italy.1982 FIFA World Cup4th1stEuro 19841stDNQTournament played in France.1986 FIFA World Cup3rd12thIn the round of 16, France defeated Italy 2–0.Euro 1988DNQ4th1990 FIFA World Cup3rdTournament played in Italy.Euro 19926thDNQ1994 FIFA World CupDNQ2ndEuro 19963rd10th1998 FIFA World Cup1st5thIn the quarter-finals, France defeated Italy 4–3 on penalties after extra time. Tournament played in France.Euro 20002ndIn the final, France defeated Italy 2–1 with a golden goal in extra time.2002 FIFA World Cup28th15thEuro 20046th9th2006 FIFA World Cup2nd1stIn the final, Italy defeated France 5–3 on penalties.Euro 200815th8thFrance and Italy were placed in the same first round group. Italy defeated France 2–0, in the match between the two teams, as France did not progress out of the group.2010 FIFA World Cup29th26thBoth defending finalists were eliminated in the group stage, the first time this occurred.Euro 20128th2nd2014 FIFA World Cup7th22ndEuro 20162nd5thTournament played in France.2018 FIFA World Cup1stDNQEuro 202011th1stSome games of the tournament played in Italy.2022 FIFA World Cup2ndDNQEuro 20244th14th2026 World CupDNQEuro 2028TBDTBD
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). Italy went on to win their second World Cup title in succession.
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. Italy later made it out of the group, but France did not.
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.
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 and went on to win the 1998 World Cup 3–0 over Brazil.
UEFA Euro 2000
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. 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.
2006 FIFA World Cup
On 9 July, France and Italy faced off in the final. Zinedine Zidane opened the scoring by converting a controversial 7th-minute penalty kick, 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. After consulting his assistants, Elizondo issued Zidane a red card in the 110th minute.
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.
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.
UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Both teams were drawn together in Group B of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying. The French beat the Italians 3–1 in Paris before drawing 0–0 in Milan. Both teams qualified for the tournament after Italy beat the nearest group contenders Scotland 2–1.
UEFA Euro 2008 Italy and France met in the final group stage match of UEFA Euro 2008 on 17 June, having played twice previously in the Euro qualifiers and four times competitively since 2000. Both sides needed a win to have a shot 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.
2024–25 UEFA Nations League Both teams were drawn together in Group 2 of the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A.
Statistics
Overall
Matches Wins Draws Goals FranceItaly FranceItaly FIFA World Cup 5 1 2 2* 5 6 UEFA European Championship 4 2 1 1 5 4 Olympics 2 1 1 0 6 5 UEFA Nations League 3 1 1 1 5 5 All competitions 14 5 5 4 21 20 Friendly 27 7 14 6 38 65 Tournoi de France 1 0 0 1 2 2 All matches 42 12 19 11 61 87 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 Senior titles France ItalyWorld Cup FIFA Confederations Cup Olympics Artemio Franchi Trophy European Championship Nations League Total titles
Note: Only the Olympic Games from 1908 to 1956 are officially recognized by FIFA / IFFHS.
See also Football derbies in France Football derbies in Italy France–Italy relations
References
External links