The Class of 2006: Where to Watch Italy’s World Cup Heroes This Season

Italy’s 2006 World Cup winners have long since gone their separate ways but some of them will come face to face again during the 2026-27 season.

Gennaro Gattuso is back as a Serie A boss after failing to take the Azzurri to the latest edition of football’s greatest tournament, and he will lock horns with former team-mates Fabio Grosso and Daniele De Rossi.

Meanwhile, former striker Filippo Inzaghi and ex-defender Alessandro Nesta are set to square up in Serie B.

Here’s where to catch them and information on how you can get tickets.

Fabio Grosso

It was a nice touch by Fiorentina to officially unveil Grosso as their new manager on the 20th anniversary of him hitting the winning penalty against France in Berlin.

Since hanging up his boots, he has put together a weighty CV as a manager and the latest stop is the Artemio Franchi after agreeing his deal in June.

Grosso boasts a promotion to Serie A with Frosinone in 2022-23 and a fine couple of seasons with Sassuolo, achieving promotion to the top flight in 2024-25 and an 11th-place finish there last term.

He will mould his new team to his preferred 4-3-3 and he may be reunited with Sassuolo’s Norwegian midfielder Kristian Thorstvedt. Fiorentina flirted with relegation for parts of last season and there were tears in the stands before they eventually finished in 15th, four places and seven points worse off than Sassuolo.

Grosso has promised a “rebuild” in Tuscany and if you want to see how it goes, tickets for Fiorentina games are easy to come by if you get organised and read our guide.

Alessandro Nesta

Nesta is one of the best defenders to have played the game but the 2006 World Cup didn’t go to plan for him as an injury in the group stage signalled the end of his tournament.

He made just one more appearance for his country after Germany and called time on a 78-cap career.

Since becoming a boss the former Lazio and AC Milan stopper has been a regular in and around the Serie B play-offs and that’s good news for Avellino, who handed him the reins earlier this summer.

This corner of Campania, 30 miles from Naples, is well worth a visit and the Stadio Paternio-Adriano Lombardi, also known as the Wolf Burrow, is a great place to take in a game. It was one of the reserve grounds for Italia 90 and with those classic curvas it is a sight to behold when bouncing.

Not even going bankrupt twice and tumbling all the way down to Serie D over the past two decades has cooled the support in Avellino. They averaged 9500 fans through the gates in 2025-26.

Daniele De Rossi

In 2006 De Rossi was the youngest member of the Italy squad and while at 22 he was not exactly wet behind the ears, a more experienced player probably wouldn’t have elbowed an opponent in the second group game and picked up a four-game ban.

He was back for the final, coming off the bench to convert his spot-kick in the shootout, and went on to collect 117 caps to sit fifth in the all-time list before calling time in 2017.

These days De Rossi is a bridge that connects two important port cities: Genoa and Rome. Or to be precise, Genoa and Ostia Mare.

He has been manager of the Rossoblu since last November and owner of Ostia Mare – the team he started at as a youth player – since the start of 2025.

After tricky spells on the bench of Spal and Roma, De Rossi has found safe havens. Genoa stayed in Serie A after a 16th-place finish while Ostia Mare will be in Serie C for the first time in 35 years following promotion at the end of last season.

Ostia Mare is about 40 minutes by car from the heart of the city and the team play at the 1000-seater Stadio Anco Marzio, which is a 10-minute walk to the closest beach.

De Rossi has plans for the stadium and the club, telling La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Ostia Mare is not a branch of any other team. We will build a young team with the best from the youth sectors. The goal is to follow the example of Atalanta and become a stable team like them.” 

This is certainly one to watch. As for Genoa, catching them at the Marassi is one of the classic calcio experiences and we can help you with all the information you need on how to get tickets as well as top tips on where to eat and drink, including the main pre-match meeting point for home fans and the wonderful old fishing village of Boccadasse.

Gennaro Gattuso

Probably the scapegoat of the third World Cup failure in a row for the Italy team, his short reign as national team manager ended after the play-off loss back in March.

The former AC Milan midfielder from Calabria inherited a tough task from Luciano Spalletti, and despite the disappointment he has come out the other side. A spin of the managerial merry-go-round dropped him off with Lazio.

He will have the chance to redeem himself with the iconic eagle on his suit but the welcome from Lazio fans wasn’t as warm as he would have liked. Some doubters within the blue half of Rome are braced for a season nearer the bottom than the top.

Back in 2006 he played a starring role in Germany, winning more challenges than any other player, being named in the team of the tournament and celebrating on the pitch in his underpants.

More recently, a Coppa Italia triumph with Napoli is the lone star on a 13-year managerial career but what he is guaranteed to bring to the Olimpico is determination and persistence, characteristics which earned him the nickname Ringhio (Growl).

That growl might be hard to hear in the cauldron that Lazio share with Roma – we highlighted it last season as one of our favourite stadiums in the country.

The Derby della Capitale is the bucket-list match here and the first one of 2026-27 is scheduled for the weekend of December 12. Get organised early if this is on your radar.

Filippo Inzaghi

The former striker represented his country at three World Cups, scoring against the Czech Republic in 2006 having drawn a blank in 1998 and 2002.

As a manager he has led Benevento and Pisa from Serie B to the top flight and returns for a second shot with Palermo after falling short in the play-offs last term.

The Sicilians have not been in Serie A since 2017 and, with Inzaghi in the dugout and two-time Serie B top-scorer Joel Pohjanpalo hanging around, automatic promotion must be the target.

Palermo were regularly featured on DCTV‘s live coverage of the second tier – we show three live matches during every round of fixtures – and are sure to be a big draw again when the campaign kicks off in August.

Seeing them in the flesh is also easy. The Stadio Renzo Barbera, another classic reminder of Italia 90, is set against a beautiful backdrop and, more importantly, tickets are easy to get due to its size.

Palermo fans are looking forward to the new season kicking off and calcio tourists should be too.

Fabio Cannavaro (not in Italy, yet)

Maybe it is not a coincidence that the captain, the man who lifted the trophy that night in Berlin, was the only one of the 2006 squad at this year’s World Cup.

With his younger brother Paolo assisting, Cannavaro has been with the Uzbekistan national team since 2025 and remains in place despite crashing out in the group stage after defeats by DR Congo, Colombia and Portugal.

Since retiring as a player, Cannavaro has clocked up the air miles, managing in China – where he won the League One title with Tianjin Quanjian and the Super League with Guangzhou Evergrande – and Saudi Arabia, before spells with Benevento, Udinese and Dinamo Zagreb.

Could he follow in the footsteps of Gattuso and take on the Azzurri job?

“Italy will be missing at the World Cup because they were afraid against Bosnia (in the play-off) and because we do not invest in youth teams anymore,” Cannavaro said in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Looking further ahead, he said: “I am working to become the next manager of Italian national team.”

Watch this space.