Pescara Passion Could Be the Perfect Tonic for Italian Youngsters

Italian football stepped into a new era when Roberto Mancini began his second spell in charge of the national team with a defeat by Belgium in Rome in the opening round of the latest Nations League.

The former Manchester City manager’s return has been a controversial issue, the credit he built by winning Euro 2020 all but used by the manner of his departure for Saudi Arabia, a move he has since acknowledged was ill-advised.

Mancini may have received a lukewarm reception on appointment before his team were booed off against the Belgians, but Silvio Baldini should have no such concerns when he leads his Italy Under-21s out in Pescara next week.

The 68-year-old took Pescara back to Serie B in June 2025, before leaving less than two weeks later and being appointed in charge of the Azzurrini.

Baldini may have left the club, but the city retains a special place in his heart.

“Pescara is a place where if you are born poor, you’re happy,” he said upon leaving the club. “If you are born a farmer, you’re happy. If you’re born a fisherman, you’re happy. If you’re born an entrepreneur, you’re happy. Because Pescara is a beautiful city. There is a culture that no one can explain that makes things magical.”

Baldini could do with some magic when he returns to the Stadio Adriatico.

Italy trail group leaders Poland by three points with two games to go in the Euro 2027 qualifying campaign (they play Armenia away before hosting Poland).

The group winners and the best-second placed team out of the nine qualifying groups automatically clinch a spot in Albania and Serbia next summer, with the remaining eight runners-up having to go through the play-offs.

Failure to qualify would be almost unprecedented for the Azzurrini, who only missed out on the Euros in 1998 – after winning the previous three editions – and 2011.

Five-time champions between 1992 and 2004, Italy last reached the semi-finals of the continental showpiece back in 2017, failing to even make it out of the group in two of the last four editions.

But while Italy may no longer be the powerhouse of old, there is a buzz in Pescara ahead of the fixture against Poland, and not just because it could be effectively a winner-takes-all decider.

Abruzzo’s capital is as mad a football city as any in Italy. From their Serie A heydays under the late Giovanni Galeone in the early 1990s to Zdenek Zeman’s team that featured local boy Marco Verratti, Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne and romped to promotion in 2012, passion for the beautiful game burns bright in Pescara.

Bryan Cristante and Rolando Mandragora, who were both called up by Mancini for the upcoming Nations League fixtures, played for the club and the Abruzzesi still average more than 5500 at the Adriatico, despite returning to Serie C last term.

The stadium may be dated and tired, but what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in atmosphere. The Curva Nord is awash with blue and white flags and scarves, and hearing it belt out the 1987 Italian pop hit Gente di Mare makes the hairs stand up on the back of the neck.

Somewhat surprisingly, however, Pescara has been largely off Italy’s radar with the national team visiting Abruzzo’s capital just three times in the past 15 years.

The senior team beat Northern Ireland 3-0 in October 2011 as part of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, while the Azzurrini beat Serbia 3-2 in September 2014 and eight years later lost 2-0 in a friendly to an England team containing Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer.

That remains the Azzurrini’s only loss in seven visits to the Adriatico, with five wins and a draw, back in 1977 against Yugoslavia courtesy of a brace from the late Paolo Rossi.

“Italy haven’t played many matches in Pescara,” local fan Maurizio Giotto told Destination Calcio. “The national team has a certain following, though obviously much less than the club. The match against Poland is decisive for Italy, so I think there will be a good turnout.”

There are no Pescara players in the squad, but Baldini has rolled the dice for the final two qualifiers, handing a first Under-21 call-up to Frosinone midfielder Matteo Cichella, Como starlet Mattia Liberali, Roma defender Emanuele Lulli and Borussia Dortmund centre-back Luca Reggiani.

Qualification for the Euros would all but ensure Baldini remains in charge until the summer at least, but failure to reach the tournament could bring about a change of manager.

Baldini needs some magic and Pescara may just be the right place to provide it.