Why is the shirt of the Italian soccer team blue?

In Italy, soccer is the national sport. A visceral love for our team binds us.

Here is a curiosity about the Italian national team: why is the shirt they wear blue? How come to this colour?

The light blue of the Italian national soccer team derives from the noble coat of arms of the House of Savoia.

In heraldry, the fabric that was glued diagonally over the noble shield was called “fascia”, and the band of the Savoia is, in fact, blue.

Thus, in homage to the royal family, on 6 January 1911, the Italian national team played its first match with the Azzurri shirt, against Hungary.

From this derives the nickname “Azzurri” with which the players of the Italian selection are known throughout the world.

Not everyone knows, however, that the Italian national soccer team also had a very brief parenthesis with an utterly black shirt, wanted by Benito Mussolini in the thirties.

This shirt was used during the friendly with France on 17 February 1935. It was also used in the soccer tournament of the XI Olympic Games in Berlin the following year and in the first two World Cup competitions of 1938.