"World Mission," here are the 28 blue players called up by Gattuso for the playoffs: Palestra makes his debut, Chiesa returns.

There are 28 players called up by coach Gennaro Gattuso for Italy, engaged on Thursday, March 26 (8:45 PM, live on Rai 1) at the Bergamo Stadium in the semifinal of the playoffs for the World Cup against Northern Ireland. The new face is Marco Palestra, a defender from Cagliari, born in 2005, making his first call-up to the senior national team. Federico Chiesa, European champion in 2021, returns to wear the blue jersey after being away from the national team since Euro 2024. This is also the first call-up with Gattuso for Giorgio Scalvini and Niccolò Pisilli, who have been absent since March and November 2024, respectively.

The World Cup mission for the national team will begin on Sunday evening with a gathering scheduled at the Federal Technical Center in Coverciano. In case of success against Northern Ireland, Italy would then play for a spot in the 2026 World Cup away on Tuesday, March 31, against the winner of the match between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The list of called-up players: 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).