Italy: world champions on 11/07/1982, European champions on 11/07/2021, the Azzurri facing the void

Italian football, which will be the big absentee at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar - the second big miss in a row after the 2018 World Cup in Russia - is celebrating a victorious double anniversary on 11/07/2022.

Italy won the third of its four World Cups (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006) by beating West Germany (3-1) in Madrid on 11/07/1982. "A triumph that has been able to reveal to the world, perhaps even to ourselves, how strong Italy is when its heart beats in unison. Today we celebrate an imperfect team, but which has managed to become perfect and invincible along the way," said Gabriele Gravina, FIGC president, 40 years later to the day, on 11/07/2022.

The Squadra Azzurra won Euro 2020 with a victory in the final (1-1, 3-2 on penalties) over England at Wembley Stadium (London, ENG) on Sunday 11/07/2021.

"The 1982 team is a team that hasn't ceased to excite the fans and that has inspired future generations: like the 2006 world champions, very young fans of those Azzurri, and like the champions of Europe 2021, who imitated them, recognising themselves in the strength of an extraordinary…