Christian Panucci sport association football
International career
Panucci had a successful career with the Italy national under-21 football team, winning consecutive under-21 European Championship titles in 1994 and 1996 under manager Cesare Maldini; in the final of the latter edition of the tournament against Spain, following a 1–1 draw, he took and missed Italy's first penalty in an eventual 4–2 shoot-out victory.After missing out on the Italy squad that reached the final of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Panucci made his senior Italy debut on 7 September 1994 against Slovenia in a UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying match. He missed out on the squad for the final tournament, however, following a dispute with Italian national coach Arrigo Sacchi. Despite missing out on the European Championship squad, he was named the captain of the Italian national team that took part at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, under his former youth coach Maldini. As he spent the following seasons abroad, however, he was once again excluded from Maldini's team for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and he was also left out of Dino Zoff's squad for UEFA Euro 2000 due to his lack of playing and irregular performances with Inter; it was not until the 2002 World Cup, under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, that Panucci became a regular in the Italian team.In the 2002 World Cup, Panucci was widely blamed for failing to clear a pass that led to the equalising goal for co-hosts South Korea by Seol Ki-Hyun in the dying minutes of regulation time in the round of 16; Ahn Jung-hwan scored the golden goal of the match in extra time, which eliminated the Italian team from the tournament. In the first half of regulation time, Panucci had also conceded a controversial penalty, after referee Byron Moreno judged him to have pulled down Seol Ki-Hyeon in the box; Ahn's spot kick was saved by Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, however.After taking part in Italy's unsuccessful campaign at Euro 2004 in Portugal, assisting Antonio Cassano's goal in a 1–1 draw against Sweden in Italy's second group match of the tournament, Panucci did not play for Italy for over three years. Despite his performances and the lack of genuine quality Italian right-backs, he was ignored by manager Marcello Lippi, with whom he had fallen out in his days at Inter Milan, during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, as Italy went on to win the final tournament in Germany. The 34-year-old, however, was given a second chance by coach Roberto Donadoni, who called him up for the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Georgia, Scotland, and the Faroe Islands.Panucci expressed his delight at earning his 50th Italy cap in the stadium where he began his career for the Azzurri in the 2–0 win over Georgia in their Euro 2008 qualifying tie in Genoa at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
athletics competitive physical activity physical competition