The latest Italy Confederations Cup home shirt is quite a nice one. In traditional blue with white detail it represents the true azzuri colours. It is probably along with the Brazil kit the most well known football strip in world football. It has a fine Italia detailing in the shirt itself scrolling diagonally through it, which is a nice touch. The neck line is a v neck which is another classic touch.

Over the years Italy has become one of the most famous footballing nations and they have had a great deal of success in recent times with their world cup victory in Germany 2006 and reaching the semi finals in 1990. This shirt has been created especially with the 2009 Confederations Cup in mind and it will be interesting to see how far they progress in that tournament. Some of today’s payers are coming to the end of their careers so we will have to wait and see who out of the current crop will make it to the World Cup in 2010, assuming they qualify.

You are currently spoilt for choice with the selection of current star names to get put on the back of the shirt, with such players as Maldini, Toni, Di Rossi, Iaquinta, Pirlo, and Canavarro to name just a few. And there are other rising stars who might take your fancy, like Rossi, Balotelli, Pazzini and Aquilani. These are all going to be names that you’ll hear a lot more of in the future I’m sure. However you don’t have to just look at current players for inspiration, what about Baresi, Costacura or Donadoni? But if I had to choose there would only be one player for me, Roberto Baggio. He was an inspiration for the azzuri in the early 90’s and was the architect and scorer of some brilliant goals. So he gets my vote.

Steve Aitken