1910 Italy v France football match

By the time Italy played their first official match, many other nations, especially those from Northern Europe, had already formed their respective national teams. On 16 March 1898, the Italian Football Federation was founded in Turin under the name Federazione Italiana del Football (FIF). Luigi Bosisio and Arturo Baraldi, then-president and secretary of the Federation respectively, laid the groundwork for the creation of the Italian national team. Due to organisational difficulties, the Federation headquarters were later relocated to Milan. During this era, Pro Vercelli won the 1908 and 1909 scudetti using exclusively Italian players, in contrast to many clubs that relied heavily on English or Swiss footballers. Before the establishment of an official national team, several unofficial Italian selections had played matches against Swiss clubs. In 1899, a team of players from Genoa and Internazionale Torino faced a Swiss selection in Turin. In 1907, a FIF team played against Grasshopper in Milan. France could not lean on the players coming from their top teams such as Racing Club, Stade Rennais, Patronage Olier, and Club Français due to controversies on professional and amateur football. == Match ==

The match, played on a sunny Sunday, 15 May 1910 was Italy's first official international game. The French had just lost 4–0 and 10–0 against Belgium and England respectively. The referee was former Juventus coach Harry Goodley from England. Summary team before the match In the 13th minute, assisted by Arturo Boiocchi, Pietro Lana scored Italy's first historical goal with a 30-metre shot. Seven minutes later, Italy doubled the score as 19-year-old Virgilio Fossati scored another long-distance goal. Aldo Cevenini scored a third goal through a header, which was later disallowed for offside. Three minutes after half-time, France halved their deficit with Henri Bellocq. France's comeback hopes were cancelled since Pietro Lana scored a brace. Jean Ducret's free-kick meant the result would be 3–2. However, France would concede three more goals. Giuseppe Rizzi re-established the two-goal gap after collecting goalkeeper Louis Tessier's rebound, on a Francesco Calì's throw. Torino FC founder and right-winger Enrico Debernardi scored Italy's fifth goal. Finally, after a penalty had been awarded to Italy for handball on a Boiocchi's shoot, Pietro Lana made it 6–2 with a penalty kick, completing a hat-trick. Details == Aftermath ==

La Stampa characterised the game as "quite one-sided" and mentioned that it had failed to meet expectations, noting that the home team was superior in both physicality and technique. In contrast, ''L'Auto'' reported that French players were already exhausted due to the long journey to reach Italy, and that they had troubles playing in a "scorching heat". Étienne Jourde became France's youngest captain being 20 years and three months old. Virgilio Fossati would fight for Italy in World War I and was killed in Monfalcone in 1916. twice being in the final of the UEFA Euro 2000 final and the 2006 FIFA World Cup final with the former won by France and the latter won by Italy. == See also ==