England vs Italy: What time is today's match, how to watch on TV and where it is being played
England vs Italy is one of the most storied fixtures in international football, rich in history and incident, ranging from ‘the Battle of Highbury’ in 1934 when England beat the world champions, to arguably England’s greatest performance, the Stanley Matthews, Stan Mortensen, Tommy Lawton, Wilf Mannion and Tom Finney inspired 4-0 victory over the still world champion Italians in 1948.
More recently the two have met in countless World Cup qualifiers and Euro knockout matches, most notably the ‘firework up the fundament’ debacle of the 2020 final at Wembley when many fans shamed the nation and England lost on penalties
Overall, England have won only nine of 31 matches, losing 13 – one of their worst records in international football.
Their latest match is England’s sixth in Euro 2024 qualifying group C, which they lead by six points with three matches to play, having beaten Italy, then under the management of Roberto Mancini, 2-1 in Naples in the opening group game.
England have won three and drawn one of their subsequent qualifiers, Italy have one draw and three victories, most recently beating Malta 4-0 on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Wembley will be on high alert tonight after what happened on Monday in Brussels, where a terror suspect killed two Swedish football fans prior to Belgium’s match against Sweden.
When is it?
The match is tonight, Tuesday 17 October, and kicks off at 7.45pm (BST).
Where is the match taking place?
Gareth Southgate’s side host Italy at Wembley, the national stadium. There has been huge controversy recently about the decision not to illuminate the Wembley arch in Israeli colours to mark atrocities in the Middle East.
What TV channel is it on?
The match will be broadcast exclusively in the UK on Channel 4. Radio 5 Live will provide radio coverage and you can also follow the match here on our Telegraph Sport live blog.
How do I get tickets?
You can’t. It is sold out on all official outlets.
England’s squad to face Italy
England have no specialist left-backs after Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell were ruled out by injury. Bukayo Saka pulled out of the England friendly against Australia on Friday night and this match against Italy after pulling his hamstring. Gareth Southgate has not called up a replacement.
Goalkeepers: Sam Johnstone (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)
Defenders: Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Jordan Henderson (Al-Ettifaq), Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City), Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United) Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), James Maddison (Tottenham Hotspur), Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
Italy’s squad to face England
Italy have a new manager following Mancini’s decision to resign in order to take up a multi-million pound offer to coach the Saudi Arabia national team. ‘Mancio’, the Euro 2020-winner, has replaced by Luciano Spalletti who led Napoli to the Serie A title last May and this will be his third competitive match in charge of the Azzurri, having presided over the draw with Macedonia and victory over Ukraine in September.
The 64-year-old signed a three-year contract and named the following squad, shorn by injury of Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto. Spurs’ impressive left-back, Destiny Udogie, has earned his first call-up.
Meanwhile, Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali and Aston Villa winger Nicolo Zaniolo were sent back to their clubs over an investigation into illegal betting that could lead to three-year bans. Read more here.
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (captain, Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham).
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham).
Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Inter), Giacomo Bonaventura (Fiorentina), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus).
Forwards: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Moise Kean (Juventus), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma).
What is the latest news?
Kyle Walker, has revealed that he was so intimidated by England’s class of 2011 that he did not enjoy meeting up with the national team and was scared to speak up.
Gareth Southgate last month revealed he twice had to talk Walker out of international retirement and the 33-year-old has claimed that, ultimately, he could not bring himself to walk away from England.
But he did not always feel so enthusiastic about meeting up with the rest of the squad and says that it is only since Southgate took over as manager that the old hierarchy has been demolished.
“I’ve been here when it was tough to come to England,” said Walker. “Obviously, to represent your country is always going to be an honour but those days when you’re in the hotels and no-one talks to you, it was hard.
“You look at it when I got my call up I was at Aston Villa, I’d been at Tottenham for six months and I didn’t know anyone there. I went to Aston Villa and the only person that I kind of really knew was Jack Wilshere, nobody else was in the team that I knew. I was mainly talking to Ashley Young, Nigel Reo-Coker, Emile Heskey, and Stewart Downing.
“I had team-mates from Tottenham that were at the table across from me, I was at their team but they didn’t know me because I’d gone on loan to Sheffield United, QPR and Aston Villa.
“I didn’t feel like I deserved to be there at the time. I was young, I’d just come on the scene at the Premier League at the time, I’d got into the England team and I probably ostracised myself rather than them not talking to me.
“There were big characters there, it was tough to try to spark a conversation with the likes of Rio (Ferdinand), John Terry. Now I’d just go up to them and say hello but at the time you had to feel you earned that right.”
Walker is now the oldest member of Southgate’s squad and insisted any youngsters who are called up for England duty no longer have to worry about feeling left out.
“I would hate for any of the younger ones to come up and feel they couldn’t speak to any of the experienced ones,” said Walker. “I know there’s no hierarchy, there’s no he’s above or he needs to get on the treatment bed first, it’s first come, first served. That’s how it is.
“There is an environment, me being the oldest I try to put that on to anyone. If I was to see it [hierarchy], I wouldn’t have it because you want to feel that it’s an honour already to play for your country and you want to enjoy it, you don’t want to come here and feel like it is a chore.
“I remember first getting down to the training ground and Ashley Cole was my hero and I was looking at him. Glen Johnson, Rio, John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard. Wayne Rooney. You are looking at all of these players and you were a 19-year-old boy coming into a team. It was hard. Football and life has changed completely, now. That was a long time ago.
“Football has changed and the world has changed. I would like to stress any of the younger players coming through and I say ‘if you ever need me, give me a shout’.”
Walker clashed with Arsenal coach Nicolas Jover just before meeting up with England for the Australia and Italy games, who he knew from their time together at Manchester City and plans to try to patch things up when he is back at his club.
“I don’t like losing,” said Walker. “A couple of matches (between City and Arsenal) before, Nico, who worked for Man City, did not want to shake hands when we beat them before . When we lost, he wanted to shake my hand and I did not take it lightly. Simple as that.
“No (I haven’t been in touch with him), I have been concentrating on England but I will probably reach out to him, definitely. I will say, it was probably a bit too much.”
