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.
The only players who were captains in all matches they have played in the national team were Giuseppe Milano, Francesco Calì and Giulio Cappelli.
Gianluigi Buffon wore the captain band the most times: 80.
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.
Giorgio Chiellini is the current captain of the national team.Updated as of 18 November 2019.
Players in bold are still active. Players in italics served as the designated captain for his captaincy period.
# | Name | Appearances | Goals | Captain | National years | Captaincy years | Ref |
1 | Gianluigi Buffon | 176 | 0 | 80 | 1997–2018 | 2010–2018 | |
2 | Fabio Cannavaro | 136 | 2 | 79 | 1997–2010 | 2002–2010 | |
3 | Paolo Maldini | 126 | 7 | 74 | 1988–2002 | 1994–2002 | |
4 | Giacinto Facchetti | 94 | 3 | 70 | 1963–1977 | 1966–1977 | |
5 | Dino Zoff | 112 | 0 | 59 | 1968–1983 | 1977–1983 | |
6 | Giuseppe Bergomi | 81 | 6 | 33 | 1982–1998 | 1988–1991 | |
7 | Franco Baresi | 81 | 1 | 31 | 1982–1994 | 1991–1994 | |
8 | Adolfo Baloncieri | 47 | 25 | 27 | 1920–1930 | 1927–1930 | |
9 | Renzo De Vecchi | 43 | 0 | 26 | 1910–1925 | 1920–1925 | |
10 | Giampiero Boniperti | 38 | 7 | 24 | 1947–1960 | 1952–1960 | |
11 | Giuseppe Meazza | 53 | 33 | 17 | 1930–1939 | 1937–1939 | |
11 | Sandro Salvadore | 36 | 2 | 17 | 1960–1970 | 1963–1966 | |
13 | Umberto Caligaris | 59 | 0 | 16 | 1922–1934 | 1931–1934 | |
14 | Leonardo Bonucci | 95 | 7 | 12 | 2010– | 2014– | |
15 | Giuseppe Milano | 11 | 0 | 11 | 1911–1914 | 1911–1914 | |
16 | Giorgio Chiellini | 103 | 8 | 10 | 2004– | 2018– | |
16 | Gaetano Scirea | 78 | 2 | 10 | 1975–1986 | 1985–1986 | |
18 | Antonio Cabrini | 73 | 9 | 9 | 1978–1987 | 1986–1987 | |
18 | Marco Tardelli | 81 | 6 | 9 | 1976–1985 | 1983–1985 | |
18 | Silvio Piola | 34 | 30 | 9 | 1935–1952 | 1940–1947 | |
18 | Luigi Allemandi | 24 | 0 | 9 | 1925–1936 | 1935–1936 | |
18 | Andrea Pirlo | 116 | 13 | 9 | 2002–2015 | 2010–2015 | |
23 | Alessandro Altobelli | 61 | 25 | 8 | 1979–1988 | 1987–1988 | |
23 | Virginio Rosetta | 52 | 0 | 8 | 1920–1934 | 1931–1932 | |
25 | Luigi Cevenini | 29 | 11 | 7 | 1915–1929 | 1925–1927 | |
25 | Riccardo Carapellese | 16 | 10 | 7 | 1947–1956 | 1949–1950 | |
27 | Demetrio Albertini | 79 | 3 | 6 | 1989–2002 | 1999–2001 | |
27 | Carlo Annovazzi | 17 | 0 | 6 | 1947–1952 | 1951–1952 | |
27 | Lorenzo Buffon | 15 | 0 | 6 | 1958–1962 | 1961–1962 | |
27 | Sergio Cervato | 28 | 4 | 6 | 1951–1960 | 1956–1957 | |
27 | Daniele De Rossi | 117 | 21 | 6 | 2004–2017 | 2007–2017 | |
27 | Alessandro Del Piero | 91 | 27 | 6 | 1995–2008 | 2004–2008 | |
27 | Cesare Maldini | 14 | 0 | 6 | 1960–1963 | 1962–1963 | |
27 | Virgilio Fossati | 12 | 1 | 6 | 1910–1915 | 1914–1915 | |
35 | Gianpiero Combi | 47 | 0 | 5 | 1924–1934 | 1934 | |
35 | Alessandro Mazzola | 70 | 22 | 5 | 1963–1974 | 1972 | |
35 | Egisto Pandolfini | 21 | 9 | 5 | 1950–1957 | 1954 | |
35 | Valentino Mazzola | 12 | 4 | 5 | 1942–1949 | 1947–1949 | |
39 | Giancarlo Antognoni | 73 | 7 | 4 | 1974–1983 | 1977–1981 | |
39 | Gianni Rivera | 60 | 14 | 4 | 1962–1974 | 1964–1965 | |
41 | Attilio Ferraris | 28 | 0 | 3 | 1926–1935 | 1934–1935 | |
41 | Alberto Gilardino | 57 | 19 | 3 | 2004– | 2011– | |
41 | Alessandro Nesta | 78 | 0 | 3 | 1996–2006 | 2004 | |
41 | Gianluca Vialli | 59 | 16 | 3 | 1985–1992 | 1989–1992 | |
45 | Romeo Benetti | 55 | 2 | 2 | 1971–1980 | 1978–1979 | |
45 | Giacomo Bulgarelli | 29 | 7 | 2 | 1962–1967 | 1966 | |
45 | Francesco Calì | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1910 | 1910 | |
45 | Giulio Cappelli | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1936 | 1936 | |
45 | Fulvio Collovati | 50 | 3 | 2 | 1979–1986 | 1985 | |
45 | Giovanni Ferrari | 44 | 14 | 2 | 1930–1938 | 1938 | |
45 | Pietro Ferraris | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1935–1947 | 1947 | |
45 | Alfredo Foni | 23 | 0 | 2 | 1936–1942 | 1936 | |
45 | Gennaro Gattuso | 73 | 1 | 2 | 2000–2010 | 2009 | |
45 | Ardico Magnini | 20 | 0 | 2 | 1953–1957 | 1956–1957 | |
45 | Marco Materazzi | 41 | 2 | 2 | 2001–2008 | 2004–2005 | |
45 | Riccardo Montolivo | 66 | 2 | 2 | 2007– | 2013– | |
45 | Miguel Montuori | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1956–1960 | 1959–1960 | |
45 | Maino Neri | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1948–1954 | 1948 | |
45 | Gianluca Pagliuca | 39 | 0 | 2 | 1990–1998 | 1994–1995 | |
45 | Pietro Rava | 30 | 0 | 2 | 1935–1946 | 1939–1942 | |
45 | Armando Segato | 20 | 0 | 2 | 1953–1959 | 1958–1959 | |
45 | 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 | Ciro Immobile | 39 | 10 | 1 | 2014– | 2018– | |
63 | Lorenzo Insigne | 34 | 7 | 1 | 2012– | 2018– | |
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 | |
63 | Marco Verratti | 36 | 3 | 1 | 2012– | 2019– | |
Total | 88 players | | | 821 | 1910–2019 | 1910–2019 | |