Turin Maintains Its Strong World Cup Link Despite Italy Staying Home

As a third successive World Cup takes place without them, Italy can at least boast of having the club that has produced the most winners of football’s grandest prize.

Juventus sit top of that tree, with 27 players lifting the World Cup while playing for them, three ahead of German giants Bayern Munich and six in front of rivals Inter Milan.

When Italy lifted the 2006 World Cup after beating France in Berlin, there were six starters – across both sides – representing The Old Lady. Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Mauro Camoranesi and Fabio Cannavaro were in the Italian XI while Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram lined up for the French. Alessandro Del Piero came off the Azzurri bench and David Trezeguet came on for Les Bleus.

At Italia 90, Turin was the scene for a knackered Diego Maradona’s mazy dribble and assist for Claudio Caniggia against Brazil that knocked the Selecao out, while England’s defeat by West Germany on penalties, Gazza’s tears and all, was also played there.

In short, Turin and Juventus are synonymous with the World Cup.

The 2026 edition will see six Juve players represent their nations in North America, with two of them turning out for host nations. Weston McKennie will play a pivotal role for the US in the centre of midfield, while Canada’s hopes will be pinned striker Jonathan David. 

While David has only spent a season in Turin, McKennie has been living in the Piedmont capital for six years, bar a brief loan stint with Leeds, and has fully integrated into life in northern Italy.

That being said, the American has often been accused of crimes against food. In Juve’s All or Nothing Amazon-produced documentary, the funniest moment was the look of sheer bewilderment when McKennie spoke of putting ranch dressing on a pizza, cue hand gestures from club stalwart Giorgio Chiellini.

“I love Italy,” McKennie told 8by8mag. “It’s a beautiful place. I love the people. But obviously Italy is very big on tradition, and anyone that’s outside of that is looked on as, ‘oh my God’.

“With the food, it’s whenever I put chicken inside my pasta, when I put pesto pomodoro and then put a little chicken inside with spicy olive oil, cheese, and salt,” he added. “It’s funny, because all the non-Italian people here love it and eat it, then all the Italian people look at you like, ‘ooh, ma che schifo!’ How gross!”

He could do worse than reading our Juventus Playbook. Granted, it is geared towards travelling fans but he might find the recommendations on where to eat helpful, while one restaurant in the city, Da Angelino, which we visited earlier this year, is full of Juve history and flashbacks to their glory days. It is a shrine to stars such as Zinedine Zidane, with shirts and photographs on the wall, and is where the players celebrated their successes during the 1990s.

McKennie doubled down in an interview with DAZN last year, arguing that the country’s cuisine ‘lacks variety’. Yet questionable food taste aside, he has grown to love Turin and Italy.

“The lifestyle is amazing here. It’s not always grey (weather), like England,” he told The Athletic “You can have some sunlight and you’re close to many good things.”

Canadian David signed from Lille last summer and struggled to nail down a starting position but the striker appears to be enjoying Turin, despite being jokingly chastised by Juve coach Luciano Spalletti for sprinkling parmesan cheese on pasta with clams – a big no-no in Italian culture.

Francisco Conceicao, Teun Koopmeiners, Kenan Yildiz and Gleison Bremer are also set to appear at the tournament in North America. For Conceicao, living in Turin feels like Portugal.

“I like everything about the city. It’s quiet, comfortable, familiar like Porto,” the winger told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I feel at home even though I’m living away from home.” 

Brazilian Bremer has now spent eight years in Turin after joining Juve from cross-town rivals Torino, and the defender admits it was a very different experience coming from his homeland.

“My first impression of Turin was that it was a nice city but a bit strange, because it’s very different from Brazil: the culture, even the shape of the houses or the farmland out in the countryside,” he told the club’s YouTube channel.

The centre-back integrated quickly by learning the language and has grown into one of the best defenders in Serie A, all while embracing the city to the point where he sometimes uses Torinese dialect.

“Italy in general is a very peaceful country, and I also appreciate the elegance of Italian style. It’s really wonderful, I love it,” he added.

The last time the US hosted the grandest tournament of them all, Italy’s progress was determined by two Bianconeri players, Roberto Baggio and Dino Baggio. Between them they scored seven out of eight Azzurri goals as they made it all the way to the final.

Juve’s current lot will be hoping to do something similar this summer.