The national football teams of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

are rivals, having achieved six

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s and four

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

s between the two countries.

has won four FIFA World Cups in 1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006, while

has won two FIFA World Cups in 1998 and 2018. For many years

dominated (before 1982: 17 wins, three losses, and six draws), while from 1982, the French team had not lost one regulation game against Italy (with five wins and four draws) until the 2006 World Cup final, which Italy won 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, however, FIFA considers it a draw, with the winner earning an additional point. France did, however, lose the

UEFA Euro 2008 Group C Group C of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 9 to 17 June 2008. All six group matches were played at venues in Switzerland, in Zürich and Bern. The group was composed of 2006 FIFA World Cup 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, finalists Italy national footba ...

match against Italy 2–0. The two countries also met in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the 2000 European Championship, won by France with an extra-time

golden goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

David Trezeguet David Sergio Trezeguet (, ; born 15 October 1977) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Trezeguet began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Platense at ...

List of matches

Comparison of France's and Italy's positions in major international tournaments

; Key Denotes which team finished better in that particular competition.
DNQ: Did not qualify.
DNP: Did not participate.
TBD: To be determined.

Major encounters

1938 FIFA World Cup

On 12 June, France and Italy were matched up in the quarter-final of the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...

, which ended 3–1 in favour of Italy with goals by

Gino Colaussi Luigi Colausig (4 March 1914 – 27 July 1991), known as Gino Colaussi (), was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He was the first player to score multiple goals in a World Cup final. Club career Colaussi was born in Gradisca d' ...

in the 9th minute and two goals by

Silvio Piola Silvio Piola (; 29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He is known as a highly prominent figure in the history of Italian football due to several records he set, and he is regarded as one of the ...

in the 51st and 72nd minute, with France's only goal coming from

Oscar Heisserer Oscar Heisserer (18 July 1914 – 7 October 2004) was a French association football, footballer. Born in Schirrhein, Alsace-Lorraine, he played for RC Strasbourg, and appeared for French national football team, France in the 1938 World Cup, wher ...

in the 10th minute, as France were eliminated (being the first World Cup's hosts to fail to win the tournament at home). Italy went on to win their second World Cup title in succession.

1978 FIFA World Cup

On 2 June, Italy and France met in the first group stage match of the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

, which ended 2–1 for Italy after goals by

Paolo Rossi Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He led Italy national football team, Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup t ...

in the 29th minute and Renato Zaccarelli in the 54th minute, although France scored first in the 1st minute of play with a goal by

Bernard Lacombe Bernard Lacombe (; 15 August 1952 – 17 June 2025) was a French professional football player and manager. He played as a striker, mainly with Lyon, Bordeaux and Saint-Étienne and the France national team. Career Lacombe began his professio ...

. Italy later made it out of the group, but France did not.

1986 FIFA World Cup

On 17 June, Italy and France met in the round of 16 of the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, which ended with France eliminating Italy from the tournament 2–0 with goals by

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

in the 15th minute and

Yannick Stopyra Yannick Stopyra (born 9 January 1961) is a French former footballer who played as a striker. He amassed Ligue 1 totals of 455 matches and 130 goals in representation of six teams, mainly Sochaux and Toulouse, in a 17-year professional career. ...

in the 57th minute.

1998 FIFA World Cup

On 3 July, Italy and France were matched up for a quarter-final of the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

, which ended in a goalless draw after 120 minutes. In the shoot-out, France won 4–3 to advance and went on to win the 1998 World Cup 3–0 over

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

UEFA Euro 2000

On 2 July,

Marco Delvecchio Marco Delvecchio (; born 7 April 1973) is an Italian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. Although he played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, he spent most of it at Roma, where he is still remembered by the c ...

gave Italy the lead in the 55th minute and they held on until the final minute of injury time, when

Sylvain Wiltord Sylvain Claude Wiltord (born 10 May 1974) is a French former professional footballer. Mainly a right winger, he also played as a centre-forward, second striker and on the left wing. Wiltord had a four-season spell at Arsenal, with whom he w ...

crashed a low drive past Italian keeper

Francesco Toldo Francesco Toldo (; born 2 December 1971) is an Italian retired Association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation. In a ...

to take the game into

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. France won the game just before half-time in extra-time when

Robert Pires Robert Emmanuel Pires (born 29 October 1973) is a French former professional footballer. He is widely regarded as one of Arsenal's greatest ever players and considered by some to be one of the best wingers in the history of the sport. Pires play ...

cut the ball back for

to blast the

into the top left corner of the net to win the tournament 2–1 for France.

2006 FIFA World Cup

On 9 July, France and Italy faced off in the final.

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

opened the scoring by converting a controversial 7th-minute penalty kick, conceded by

Marco Materazzi Marco Materazzi (; born 19 August 1973) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer and Association football manager, manager. Early in his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie B and Serie C, and w ...

, which glanced off the underside of the crossbar and into the goal. Materazzi then levelled the scores in the 19th minute, a header from six yards following an

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian association football, football manager (association football), manager and former professional player. Considered one of the greatest Midfielder (association football)#Deep-lying playmaker, mi ...

corner from the right. Both teams had chances to score the winning goal in normal time:

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

hit the crossbar in the 35th minute for Italy, later having a header disallowed for offside, while France were not awarded a possible second penalty in the 53rd minute when Florent Malouda went down in the box after a cover tackle from Gianluca Zambrotta. The reverse angle review anyway clears that there was no penalty and the referee took the right decision. France appeared to be the side with better chances to win because of the higher number of shots on goal. However Italy defended well, making them unable to capitalise, and the score remained at one goal each. At the end of the regulation time, the score was still level at 1–1, and the match was forced into extra time. Italian keeper

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

made a potentially game-saving save in extra time when he tipped a Zidane header over the crossbar. Almost five minutes into the second half of extra time, Zidane and Materazzi were jogging up the pitch close to each other, they briefly exchanged words after Materazzi was seen tugging at Zidane's jersey before Zidane began to walk away from him. Moments later, Zidane suddenly stopped, turned around and head-butted Materazzi's chest, knocking him to the ground. Although play was halted, referee

Horacio Elizondo Horacio Marcelo Elizondo (born November 4, 1963) is an Argentine former international football referee best known for his officiation throughout the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Having achieved all his goals in refereeing, Elizondo retired after the Dec ...

did not appear to have seen the confrontation. According to match officials' reports,

fourth official In association football, an assistant referee (also known as a linesman) is an official who assists the referee in administering the Laws of the Game during a match. Although assistants are not required under the Laws, at most organised levels ...

Luis Medina Cantalejo Luis Medina Cantalejo (born 1 March 1964) is a Spanish former football referee. He was one of the few officials allowed to officiate the domestic clashes between Real Madrid and Barcelona. His first experience as an international referee came ...

informed Elizondo of the incident through his headset. After consulting his assistants, Elizondo issued Zidane a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or di ...

in the 110th minute. Despite Italy being one man up for the last ten minutes of extra time, no team managed to score and remained 1–1, as the match went to

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. The French

was the only player to miss his penalty kick as it hit the crossbar and the ball did not cross the goal line, while

Fabio Grosso Fabio Grosso (; born 28 November 1977) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Serie B club Sassuolo. After playing for several smaller Italian clubs, such as Renato Curi, Chieti and Per ...

scored the winner for Italy as the Italians won the shoot-out 5–3. After the match, Zidane was given the Golden Ball award as the tournament's best player.

Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Cannavaro (; born 13 September 1973) is an Italian professional association football, football coach and former player who last was the head coach of Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb. He is regarded as one of the greatest De ...

and

, both from Italy, placed second and third respectively.

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Both teams were drawn together in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

of the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

. The French beat the Italians 3–1 in Paris before drawing 0–0 in Milan. Both teams qualified for the tournament after Italy beat the nearest group contenders

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

2–1. ----

UEFA Euro 2008

Italy and France met in the final group stage match of

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

on 17 June, having played twice previously in the Euro qualifiers and four times competitively since 2000. Both sides needed a win to have a shot to progress to the next round, but both would be eliminated no matter what if

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

defeated the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the other match. Italian goals by Andrea Pirlo from the penalty spot in the 25th minute and Daniele De Rossi in the 62nd minute gave Italy a 2–0 win over France, which allowed them to progress to the quarter-final (as Romania lost to the Netherlands), while France was eliminated.

2024–25 UEFA Nations League

Both teams were drawn together in Group 2 of the

2024–25 UEFA Nations League A The 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A is the top division of the 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fourth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. Lea ...

. ----

Statistics

Overall

Note: France defeated Italy in a

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

quarter-final match via penalty shoot-out; Italy defeated France in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final via penalty shoot-out.

Official titles comparison

Note: Only the Olympic Games from 1908 to 1956 are officially recognized b
FIFA / IFFHS

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:France-Italy Football Rivalry France national football team rivalries Italy national football team rivalries International association football rivalries France at the 1938 FIFA World Cup France at the 1978 FIFA World Cup France at the 1986 FIFA World Cup France at the 1998 FIFA World Cup France at UEFA Euro 2000 France at the 2006 FIFA World Cup France at UEFA Euro 2008 Italy at the 1938 FIFA World Cup Italy at the 1978 FIFA World Cup Italy at the 1986 FIFA World Cup Italy at the 1998 FIFA World Cup Italy at UEFA Euro 2000 Italy at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Italy at UEFA Euro 2008