Italy women's team will play playoffs with Belarus

The Italian women's national team is preparing for a match against the Belarusian team in the World Cup qualifying play-off stage. One.uz reports this.

Having occupied second place in the qualifying group after Denmark, Andrea Soncin's students, who are seven spots ahead, are striving to secure a World Cup ticket through two matches against Belarus. The first match will take place on October 9 at the David Petriashvili stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, as a neutral venue, while the return match will be held on October 13 at the Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence, Italy.

These matches must be held in Tbilisi due to the Belarusian Football Federation's requirement since 2022 to hold home matches in neutral venues. The Italian team lineup consists of a mix of experienced and young players.

Head coach Andrea Soncin gathered 28 footballers at the Coverciano base. Key players like Rosucci and Serturini returned to the squad after a long break, with Serturini returning to the starting lineup following a serious ligament injury.

Gilardi and Polli were also called up. The team will train at the Federal Technical Center in Coverciano until October 7, then travel to Tbilisi, and later return to Florence on October 10, continuing preparations for the return match at the Artemio Franchi stadium.

This stadium is considered a lucky place for the Italians, where significant previous victories over Portugal and Israel were achieved. If Italy defeats Belarus, they will participate in a decisive match against the winner of the Finland and Serbia clash in early December.

Thirty-two European national teams are competing for seven spots in the first World Cup held in South America and one spot in the intercontinental play-offs. This stage will be conducted with the VAR system, which differs from the group stage.

Source: One.uz.