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Northern Ireland has recorded just one win over Italy in 11 previous meetings between the two countries.
Michael O’Neill’s side face a trip to Italy next March to compete in the semi-finals of European qualifiers for a place in the 2026 World Cup.
A win for Northern Ireland in that match would set up an away final meeting with the winner of the other Track A semi-final between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the winner of that final qualifying for the World Cup.
The semi-final match is scheduled to be held on Thursday, March 26. The final match will be held in five days.
The first meeting between Northern Ireland and Italy was in April 1957, in a 1958 World Cup qualifying match, which Italy won 1-0.
In the return match, the two teams were scheduled to meet in December 1957. However, referee Istvan Zolt did not attend the match due to heavy fog while traveling from London. As a result, that match was played in a friendly manner, and ended in a 2-2 draw.
A month later, the match was held as scheduled, with Zolt in attendance. Northern Ireland won the World Cup qualifiers 1-0.
The next four meetings between the two were friendly, with Italy winning all four matches in 1961, 1997, 2003 and 2009, and did not concede a goal in the last three.
Northern Ireland’s next match was a draw with Italy in the 2012 European Championship qualifiers, which Italy held to a goalless draw at Windsor Park in October 2010.
A year later, the two sides met again in Pescara. Italy won 3-0 in that match.
World Cup qualifying matches between the two teams are not new. For the 2022 World Cup, the two teams were in the same qualifying group.
In March 2021, Italy won 2-0 in Parma. That was the last match between the two to take place in Italy.
Eight months later, the two teams faced each other again at Windsor Park. As happened 11 years ago, the match ended in a goalless draw.
All seven matches played in Italy have gone to the Italians, but they have never beaten Northern Ireland away from home.
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