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 Italy national football team.^[1]

The only players who were captains in all matches they have played in the national team were Giuseppe Milano (11 appearances), Francesco Calì (2 caps) and Giulio Cappelli (2 caps).

Gianluigi Buffon wore the captain band the most times: 80.^[2]

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.

Gianluigi Donnarumma is the current captain of the national team.

List of captains by appearances

Updated as of 9 June 2025.^[3]

Players in bold are still active. Players in italics served as the designated captain for his captaincy period.

#	Name	Captain	Appearances	Goals	National years	Captaincy years	Ref
1	Gianluigi Buffon	80	176	0	1997–2018	2010–2018[nb 1]
2	Fabio Cannavaro	79	136	2	1997–2010	2002–2010[nb 2]
3	Paolo Maldini	74	126	7	1988–2002	1994–2002
4	Giacinto Facchetti	70	94	3	1963–1977	1966–1977
5	Dino Zoff	59	112	0	1968–1983	1977–1983
6	Giuseppe Bergomi	33	81	6	1982–1998	1988–1991
7	Franco Baresi	31	81	1	1982–1994	1991–1994
8	Adolfo Baloncieri	27	47	25	1920–1930	1927–1930
9	Renzo De Vecchi	26	43	0	1910–1925	1920–1925
9	Leonardo Bonucci	26	121	8	2010–2023	2014–2023
11	Gianluigi Donnarumma	25	74	0	2016–	2021–
12	Giampiero Boniperti	24	38	7	1947–1960	1952–1960
13	Giorgio Chiellini	22	117	8	2004–2022	2012–2022
14	Giuseppe Meazza	17	53	33	1930–1939	1937–1939
14	Sandro Salvadore	17	36	2	1960–1970	1963–1966
16	Umberto Caligaris	16	59	0	1922–1934	1931–1934
17	Giuseppe Milano	11	11	0	1911–1914	1911–1914
18	Gaetano Scirea	10	78	2	1975–1986	1984–1986
19	Luigi Allemandi	9	24	0	1925–1936	1934–1936
19	Silvio Piola	9	34	30	1935–1952	1940–1952
19	Marco Tardelli	9	81	6	1976–1985	1983–1985
19	Antonio Cabrini	9	73	9	1978–1987	1983–1987
19	Andrea Pirlo	9	116	13	2002–2015	2010–2015
24	Alessandro Altobelli	8	61	25	1980–1988	1986–1987
24	Virginio Rosetta	8	52	0	1920–1934	1929–1934
26	Riccardo Carapellese	7	16	10	1947–1956	1949–1950
26	Luigi Cevenini	7	29	11	1915–1929	1925–1929
26	Alessandro Del Piero	7	91	27	1995–2008	2004–2008
29	Demetrio Albertini	6	79	3	1991–2002	1996–2000
29	Carlo Annovazzi	6	17	0	1947–1952	1951–1952
29	Lorenzo Buffon	6	15	0	1958–1962	1961–1962
29	Sergio Cervato	6	28	4	1951–1960	1955–1959
29	Daniele De Rossi	6	117	21	2004–2017	2007–2017
29	Virgilio Fossati	6	12	1	1910–1915	1912–1915
29	Cesare Maldini	6	14	0	1960–1963	1962–1963
36	Gianpiero Combi	5	47	0	1924–1934	1931–1934
36	Alessandro Mazzola	5	70	22	1963–1974	1972
36	Valentino Mazzola	5	12	4	1942–1949	1947–1949
36	Egisto Pandolfini	5	21	9	1950–1957	1952–1955
40	Giancarlo Antognoni	4	73	7	1974–1983	1977–1981
40	Ciro Immobile	4	57	17	2014–	2018–2024
40	Gianni Rivera	4	60	14	1962–1974	1964–1965
43	Alessandro Costacurta	3	59	2	1991–1998	1995–1997
43	Attilio Ferraris	3	28	0	1926–1935	1934–1935
43	Alessandro Florenzi	3	49	2	2012–2022	2020–2022
43	Alessandro Nesta	3	78	0	1996–2006	2004
43	Gianluca Vialli	3	59	16	1985–1992	1989–1992
48	Nicolò Barella	2	63	10	2018–	2024
48	Romeo Benetti	2	55	2	1971–1980	1978–1979
48	Giacomo Bulgarelli	2	29	7	1962–1967	1966
48	Francesco Calì	2	2	0	1910	1910
48	Giulio Cappelli	2	2	1	1936–1936	1936
48	Fulvio Collovati	2	50	3	1979–1986	1985
48	Giovanni Ferrari	2	44	14	1930–1938	1938
48	Pietro Ferraris	2	14	3	1935–1947	1947
48	Alfredo Foni	2	23	0	1936–1942	1936
48	Gennaro Gattuso	2	73	1	2000–2010	2009
48	Alberto Gilardino	2	57	19	2004–2013	2011–2013
48	Jorginho	2	57	5	2016–	2021–
48	Ardico Magnini	2	20	0	1953–1957	1956–1957
48	Marco Materazzi	2	41	2	2001–2008	2004–2005
48	Riccardo Montolivo	2	66	2	2007–2017	2013–2014
48	Miguel Montuori	2	12	2	1956–1960	1959–1960
48	Maino Neri	2	8	0	1948–1954	1948
48	Gianluca Pagliuca	2	39	0	1990–1998	1994–1995
48	Pietro Rava	2	30	0	1935–1946	1939–1942
48	Armando Segato	2	20	0	1953–1959	1958–1959
48	Marco Verratti	2	55	3	2012–2023	2019–2023
48	Gianluca Zambrotta	2	98	2	1999–2010	2010
70	Massimo Ambrosini	1	35	0	1999–2008	2006
70	Roberto Baggio	1	56	27	1988–2004	1992
70	Federico Bernardeschi	1	39	6	2016–2022	2021
70	Fulvio Bernardini	1	26	3	1925–1932	1932
70	Sergio Brighenti	1	9	2	1959–1961	1961
70	Tarcisio Burgnich	1	66	2	1963–1974	1973
70	Piero Campelli	1	11	0	1912–1921	1920
70	Antonio Cassano	1	39	10	2003–2014	2011
70	Gino Colaussi	1	25	15	1935–1940	1939
70	Giovanni Di Lorenzo	1	48	5	2019–	2024–
70	Antonio Di Natale	1	42	11	2002–2012	2009
70	Stephan El Shaarawy	1	32	7	2012–	2020
70	Ciro Ferrara	1	49	0	1987–2000	2000
70	Claudio Gentile	1	71	1	1975–1984	1984
70	Mario Gianni	1	6	0	1927–1933	1932
70	Lorenzo Insigne	1	54	10	2012–2022	2018
70	Giacomo Losi	1	11	0	1960–1962	1962
70	Bruno Mora	1	21	4	1959–1965	1962
70	Bruno Nicolè	1	8	2	1958–1964	1961
70	Christian Panucci	1	57	4	1994–2008	2003
70	Angelo Peruzzi	1	31	0	1995–2006	2005
70	Alfredo Pitto	1	29	2	1928–1935	1935
70	Giuseppe Rossi	1	30	7	2008–2014	2010
70	Aristodemo Santamaria	1	11	3	1915–1923	1921
70	Angelo Schiavio	1	21	15	1925–1934	1933
70	Salvatore Sirigu	1	28	0	2010–2021	2020
70	Luca Toni	1	47	16	2004–2009	2005
Total	96 players	889			1910–2025	1910–2025

List of captains by captaincy period

List of captaincy periods of the various captains throughout the years.^[13]

• 1910 Francesco Calì
• 1911–1914 Giuseppe Milano
• 1914–1915 Virgilio Fossati
• 1920–1925 Renzo De Vecchi
• 1925–1927 Luigi Cevenini
• 1927–1930 Adolfo Baloncieri
• 1931–1934 Umberto Caligaris
• 1934 Gianpiero Combi
• 1935–1936 Luigi Allemandi
• 1937–1939 Giuseppe Meazza
• 1940–1947 Silvio Piola
• 1947–1949 Valentino Mazzola
• 1949–1950 Riccardo Carapellese
• 1951–1952 Carlo Annovazzi
• 1952–1960 Giampiero Boniperti
• 1961–1962 Lorenzo Buffon
• 1962–1963 Cesare Maldini
• 1963–1966 Sandro Salvadore
• 1966–1977 Giacinto Facchetti
• 1977–1983 Dino Zoff
• 1983–1985 Marco Tardelli
• 1985–1986 Gaetano Scirea
• 1986–1987 Antonio Cabrini
• 1988–1991 Giuseppe Bergomi
• 1991–1994 Franco Baresi
• 1994–2002 Paolo Maldini
• 2002–2010 Fabio Cannavaro^{[nb 2]}
• 2010–2018 Gianluigi Buffon^{[nb 1]}
• 2018–2022 Giorgio Chiellini
• 2022–2023 Leonardo Bonucci
• 2023 Ciro Immobile
• 2024– Gianluigi Donnarumma

Notes

1. Gianluigi Buffon served as second acting captain in UEFA Euro 2008 after Alessandro Del Piero was named the team's acting captain, as Cannavaro was injured and unable to take part in the competition, however Del Piero was frequently deployed as a substitute.^[4] Although Buffon was officially named Italy's new captain in 2010,^[5] following Fabio Cannavaro's retirement subsequent to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Andrea Pirlo was named the Italy national team's acting captain after the tournament (while Daniele De Rossi was named the team's second acting captain),^[5][6][7] as Buffon was ruled out until the end of the year due to injury, and only made his first appearance as Italy's official captain on 9 February 2011, in a 1–1 friendly away draw against Germany.^{[5][8][9][10]}
2. During UEFA Euro 2008, Alessandro Del Piero was named the Italy national team's acting captain, as Cannavaro was injured and unable to take part in the competition, however Gianluigi Buffon was often played as captain as Del Piero was frequently deployed as a substitute.^[11][12][4]