Alessandro Del Piero - International Career

International Career

Del Piero is currently Italy's fourth all-time leading scorer. His tournament debut was UEFA Euro 1996, making his only appearance in the first half of a match against Russia before being substituted at half-time.

Del Piero competed with fan favourite Roberto Baggio for a spot in the starting 11 during the World Cup, while struggling to recover from injury suffered during the 1998 Champions League final with Juventus. He made his first World Cup appearance in the second match of the group stage, a 3-0 defeat of Cameroon. In the final group game against Austria, Del Piero won his first start as Italy won 2-1 to seal a passage into the next round, avoiding reigning champions Brazil. Italy reached the quarter-finals after defeating Norway 1-0, falling to hosts and eventual champions France in penalty kicks.

He was part of Italy's squad that made it to the final of the European Championships in 2000. In the final group game, Del Piero scored the winning goal against Sweden eliminating their opposition. In the final itself, he missed two gilt-edged chances in Italy's 2–1 loss to France in extra time.

He returned to the international scene in the 2002 World Cup after a season in Serie A in which Juventus won the Scudetto. Del Piero scored the decisive goal against Hungary, which sealed the Azzurri's qualification for the finals. He instantly scored with a header against Mexico after coming on as a substitute, a goal which saved Italy from the ignominy of a first round exit. The goal sent Italy through to the second round, where they were eliminated by a golden goal in a controversial match against South Korea.

Del Piero began the 2006 World Cup, appearing in two out of three group stage matches, and made his first start of the competition in a 1–0 round of 16 win over Australia on 26 June. On 4 July, Del Piero entered as a substitute near the end of regulation and scored Italy's second goal in a 2–0 semi-final win over host Germany. In the final against France, which ended 1–1 after extra time, Del Piero scored a penalty in the shootout as Italy won the tournament for the fourth time. He admitted afterwards that winning the World Cup was his childhood dream.

As of 2008, Del Piero has captained Italy seven times (including during UEFA Euro 2008). He also regularly wore the #10 shirt, but later gave it to Francesco Totti and switched to #7, as it was the first number he wore at the start of his career. Even though the #10 shirt was vacated after Totti retired from the national team in July 2007, Del Piero denied any interest in taking back the number, saying he was satisfied with #7. In May, he was recalled by popular demand to Italy's UEFA Euro 2008 squad after a nine-month absence from international duty, and thus became the second Italian player to participate in seven major international tournaments (Euro 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008; World Cup 1998, 2002, 2006).

Del Piero was called up to Italy's squad for the Euro 2008 championship in Austria and Switzerland. He was mostly on the substitutes' bench but started against Romania as the squad's captain. In the group match against the Dutch, he came on for the under-performing Antonio Di Natale and made an immediate impact, including several efforts on goal. He could not prevent the Azzurri, however, from a 3–0 loss. Italy qualified through the group stage in second-place behind the Netherlands, eliminating Romania and France. In the quarter-final against Spain, Del Piero made a substitute appearance during extra-time, and with the game ending in a 0–0 draw, it was decided by a penalty shootout in which Spain won 4–2. On 20 August 2008, he won his 90th cap for Italy in friendly against Austria, only the fifth Azzurri player to reach this landmark. Despite announcing that he will carry on playing until he is 40 years old, he has not been called up since Italy's qualifier against Georgia on 10 September 2008.