Italy vs Northern Ireland Official Lineups, Thursday, 26 March 2026, World Cup Playoff

      Italy – Northern Ireland   

Here are Italy vs Northern Ireland official starting lineups on Thursday, 26 March, 2026, in the World Cup Playoff at the New Balance Arena in Bergamo, Italy.  The game starts at 20:45.

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🇮🇹   Lineup ITALIA (3-5-2): Donnarumma; Mancini, Bastoni, Calafiori; Politano, Barella, Locatelli, Tonali, Dimarco; Kean, Retegui.

Subs: Carnesecchi, Meret, Palestra, Buongiorno, Spinazzola, Gatti, Scalvini, Pisilli, Cristante, Frattesi, Raspadori, Esposito

Head Coach:  Gennaro Gattuso

Lineup IRLANDA DEL NORD (3-5-1-1): Charles, Hume, McNair, McConville; Devlin, Charles, Galbraith, Devenny, Spencer; Price; Donley..

Head Coach: Michael O’Neill

Italy official starting lineup against Northern Ireland

Photo via x.com/Azzurri

World Cup Playoffs
🇮🇹  Italy – Northern Ireland
Thursday, 26 March 2026
New Balance Arena
Bergamo, Italy

20:45

Referee: Danny Makkelie
Assistants: Hessel Steegstra and Jan De Vries
Fourth official: Jesus Gil Manzano.
VAR: Pol van Boekel
AVAR: Jeroen Manschot

Calafiori: “Think positively, need to be more carefree and focused”

The Arsenal defender spoke in a press conference at Coverciano: “The fans in Bergamo will help us. Gattuso kept in touch when I was out.”

The last time Italy played in a World Cup, Riccardo Calafiori was just eleven years old. Today, at 23 years of age, he can help the Azzurri make it to North America and guarantee the many young fans the chance to watch Italy in the finals of the tournament for the first time. “Going to the World Cup is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid,” he said in a press conference at Coverciano today. “I can’t wait to play in this game. The pressure is on, and it’s useless to try to avoid it. We know how important it is to qualify. We all want the same thing. We’ll try to shed the worry and think positively.”

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Italy 28 players called up for the Northern Ireland, World Cup Playoffs

By Anna Italia
Follow me on X  @ItalianSerieA,
Facebook: Anna Italia Page
Instagram: annaitalia2
Italian Soccer Serie A

🇮🇹👉    Italy’s Head Coach Gennaro Gattuso has summoned 28 players for the World Cup playoffs against Northern Ireland. The squad will gather on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio Technical Centre in Coverciano. They are set to compete against Northern Ireland in the playoff semifinal on Thursday, March 26, at 20:45 CET at the Stadio di Bergamo.

The stakes are high for the Azzurri; a victory over Northern Ireland would lead Italy to face the winner of the Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina match for a World Cup spot on Tuesday, March 31, away from home. The two teams that lose in the semifinal of Play-Off Path A (Italy vs. Northern Ireland / Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina) will instead play a friendly on March 31, which the Azzurri would also play away, either in Cardiff or Zenica.

Among the newly called-up players is Marco Palestra, a fresh addition to the squad. Palestra, a defender from Cagliari born in 2005, will make his debut with the senior national team. This call-up also marks the first for Giorgio Scalvini and Niccolò Pisilli under Gattuso, as they have been away since March and November 2024, respectively. Federico Chiesa, the 2021 European champion who has not played for the national team since EURO 2024, will return to don the Azzurri jersey.

  🇮🇹    ITALY SQUAD LIST

Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Cagliari), Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Alex Meret (Napoli);

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Diego Coppola (Paris FC), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Marco Palestra (Cagliari), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo Spinazzola (Napoli);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);

Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Liverpool), Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Atalanta), Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta).

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Here are some facts about Northern Ireland, Italy’s rival.

Northern Ireland, currently ranked 69th in the FIFA Rankings, secured their position by finishing first in Nations League Group C. They ended up third in Qualifying Group A, trailing behind Germany and Slovakia, with a record of three wins and three losses. The two teams have faced each other eleven times, with Italy achieving seven wins, three draws, and one unfortunate defeat—a 2-1 loss on January 15, 1958, in Belfast, which prevented the Azzurri from qualifying for the World Cup. Their latest match, also held in Belfast, concluded in a 0-0 draw during the final qualifier for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which led Italy to the play-offs.

ITALY NATIONAL TEAM STATISTICS IN BERGAMO.

Italy has maintained an unbeaten streak in Bergamo, where they will once again play in front of 23,000 fans, six months after their impressive 5-0 win against Estonia during Gennaro Gattuso’s debut as the National Team coach. The team has played four matches in this city, achieving two 5-0 victories (the other one was against Malta in January 1987) and drawing 1-1 on two occasions (once in a friendly against Turkey in November 2006 and again in the Nations League match against the Netherlands in October 2020).

Italy Away Kit

FIFA legends Ronaldo Nazário, Francesco Totti, Hristo Stoichkov, and Alexis Lalas will assist in unveiling the updated FIFA World Cup 2026™. The reveal is on Saturday, 6 December 2025. FIFA will announce the venues and kick-off times for the World Cup.

Andrés Cantor will serve as the host of the revised match schedule for the inaugural 48-team, 104-match FIFA World Cup™.

The following legends will join FIFA President Gianni Infantino:

✅   Ronaldo Nazário, who won the FIFA World Cup in 1994 and 2002 with Brazil.

✅   Francesco Totti, who won the FIFA World Cup in 2006 with Italy.

✅   Bulgarian football legend Hristo Stoichkov, a joint top scorer at the 1994 FIFA World Cup™ in the United States.

✅   American football star Alexis Lalas,  one of the most memorable players from the 1994 edition.

The updated schedule comes after the eagerly awaited Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026™ in Washington DC on Friday, 5 December 2025. This event confirmed 12 thrilling groups of four for the upcoming tournament.

Nevertheless, the final version of the match schedule will be released in March, following the completion of the FIFA and European play-off tournaments, which will fill the last six slots.

#FIFAWorldCup #FIFAWorldCup2026

Renowned players Ronaldo Nazário, Francesco Totti, Hristo Stoichkov, and Alexis Lalas will assist in unveiling the revised FIFA World Cup 2026™. Excellent! I am eagerly anticipating the commencement of the World Cup! Let us kick off the games.@ASRomaEN @SerieA_EN @ASRomaStats pic.twitter.com/O9arLAcur7

— Anna Italia (@ItalianSerieA) December 6, 2025