Which 12 players took part in Italy training on first day of November camp – Football Italia

UDINE, ITALY – OCTOBER 14: Gianluca Mancini of Italy celebrates scoring his team’s third goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Israel at Stadio Friuli on October 14, 2025 in Udine, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

The Italy national team gathered at Coverciano for the November international break on Monday, but it was a reduced group of just 12 players who took part in Gennaro Gattuso’s training session. Here’s who was involved. 

The Azzurri will take on Moldova on Thursday evening and then against Norway on Sunday night for the final two matches of the World Cup qualifying campaign. If Italy finish second in the group, where they currently stand, they will have to go through the play-offs in order to qualify for the final tournament in the summer. 

Gattuso confirmed a squad of 27 players for the Moldova and Norway qualifiers last week, but only 12 of his players were able to take part in training on Monday. 

That is because all of the players who started on Sunday had a recovery day, while the remaining 12 took part in a light session on the grass. Two of them were goalkeepers and 10 were outfielders. 

The players who did not start on Sunday and were therefore able to train on Monday were goalkeepers Elia Caprile and Guglielmo Vicario, defenders Riccardo Calafiori, Andrea Cambiaso and Matteo Gabbia, midfielders Daivde Frattesi, Manuel Locatelli and Samuele Ricci, and forwards Nicolo Cambiaghi, Francesco Pio Esposito, Giacomo Raspadori and Mateo Retegui. 

Italy national team squad for November’s World Cup qualifiers 

Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Cagliari), Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham).

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Atalanta), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Matteo Gabbia (Milan), Gianluca Mancini (Roma).

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Samuele Ricci (Milan), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle).

Forwards: Nicolo Cambiaghi (Bologna) Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Atletico Madrid), Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).