Italy failed to qualify for FIFA WC 2018: Facts

Italy which is failed to qualify for FIFA 2018, to be organized in Russia. Italy lost to Sweden on aggregate of 1-0 basis.

Here are some of the interesting facts about them

*Italy fail to qualify for first time in 60 years.

*Italian National team is called Gli Azzurri. It is the nickname for several Italian national teams like "Italy national football team", "Italy national basketball team", "Italy national rugby league team", "Italy national rugby union team", "Italy men's national ice hockey team", "Italy men's national volleyball team".

*Italy has won FIFA world cup four times: 1934, 1938,1982 and 2006

*It has appeared in the finals in 1970 and 1994.

*Italy is the first team to defend WC title in 1938.

*It has retained WC for 16 years i.e. till 1954 because of the world war - 2.

*Italy could not qualify for WC in 1958, which was hosted by Sweden. Sweden was the runners up in that tournament.

*The player with the most appearances for Italy is Gianluigi Buffon(1997-2017). He played 175 matches and did not score any goal.

*Luigi Riva is the top scorer in the history of Italy with 35 goals. He played 42 matches from 1965 to 1974

Source: mascot