1962 World Cup This game was the first match ever played in a World Cup between Germany and Italy, and saw few scoring chances for both sides. In the first half
Uwe Seeler hit the bar,
Albert Brülls and
Omar Sívori also had their chances. In the second half the game became more physical and sometimes brutal but in the end defences overcame attacks and no goals were scored.
1970 World Cup Italy led for the majority of the semi-final match, after
Roberto Boninsegna scored in the 8th minute. Germany's
Franz Beckenbauer dislocated his shoulder after being fouled, but stayed on the field carrying his dislocated arm in a sling, as his side had already used their two permitted substitutions. Defender
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger equalized for West Germany during injury time at the end of the second half. German television commentator Ernst Huberty exclaimed
"Schnellinger, of all people!", since Schnellinger played in Italy's professional football league,
Serie A, at
A.C. Milan (for whom he rarely scored) and previously for
A.S. Roma and
A.C. Mantova. It was also his first and only goal in 47 matches for the national team. The second half ended with the scores deadlocked at 1–1, and at this point the match became a battle of endurance during the two periods of extra time.
Gerd Müller put Germany ahead in the 94th minute, but
Tarcisio Burgnich tied it back up four minutes later and
Luigi Riva put the Italians back in front.
Gerd Müller scored again for West Germany to tie up the score at 3–3. Yet, as television cameras were still replaying Müller's goal, Italy's
Gianni Rivera scored the game-winning goal in the 111th minute. Being left unmarked near the penalty area, Rivera connected a fine cross made by Boninsegna, clinching the victory for Italy at 4–3.
1978 World Cup This match was played in the first matchday of Group A of the
1978 FIFA World Cup, a round robin played between the winners and the runners-up of the groups of the first phase; the game ended in a scoreless draw. At the end of the second phase Italy managed to reach the match for third place against Brazil, while Germany were eliminated as third in the group.
1982 World Cup On 11 July, after a scoreless first half during which
Antonio Cabrini fired a penalty low and wide to the right of goal,
Paolo Rossi scored first, heading home a bouncing Claudio Gentile cross from the right from close range.
Marco Tardelli then scored from the edge of the area with a low left footed shot before
Alessandro Altobelli, at the end of a counterattack by winger Bruno Conti, made it 3–0 with another low left footed shot.
Paul Breitner scored for Germany in the 83rd minute, firing low past the goalkeeper from the right, but Italy held on to claim their first World Cup title in 44 years, and their third in total with a 3–1 victory.
Euro 1988 Both the sides faced-off in the opening match of
Euro 1988 in
group stage held in
West Germany. The first half ended without any goals. Within 10 minutes of the second half
Roberto Mancini gave the Italian side the lead by scoring at the 52nd minute, however the lead was short lived as
Andreas Brehme scored the equalizer for West Germany at the 55th minute. The game ended in a draw with one goal for each side. Both sides would advance past round 1 but Italy would lose to the Soviet Union while Germany would lose to the Netherlands.
Euro 1996 The two teams were matched up in the final game of the group stage of
UEFA Euro 1996. Germany was already guaranteed progress to the next stage unless Italy and Czech Republic both won their matches while Italy was faced with a must-win situation if the Czech Republic did not lose to Russia.
Gianfranco Zola had a penalty saved by
Andreas Köpke in the 9th minute and
Thomas Strunz was sent off in the 59th minute. Despite the man advantage and the lion's share of possession, Italy failed to score due to the heroic display of Köpke. The goalless draw resulted in Italy being eliminated from the tournament as the Czech Republic drew with Russia.
2006 World Cup This was the
semi-final match played in
Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, in front of a crowd of 65,000 on 4 July 2006. Until then, the
Westfalenstadion had been a fortress-like stadium for the Germany national team, as Germany had never lost there in 14 matches. During an eventful match, this record was broken when two late goals in the closing half of extra-time scored by
Fabio Grosso and
Alessandro Del Piero saw Italy advance to the
final. Italy went on to win the
World Cup for a fourth time. German midfielder
Torsten Frings was suspended for this match after the media released footage of him throwing a punch at Argentinian player
Julio Cruz after a brawl broke out in Germany's quarter-final against Argentina; FIFA announced his suspension one day before the semi-final match.
Euro 2012 Italy met Germany again in the
semi-final match of Euro 2012 in the evening of 28 June 2012 at
National Stadium in Warsaw. Prior to this match, Germany had set a world football record with 15 consecutive wins in competitive matches, which began with the match for third place against Uruguay at the
2010 World Cup and ended with the 4–2 victory over Greece in the Euro 2012 quarterfinals. However, this record was to be broken by Italy on that day. In the 20th minute, Italian striker
Mario Balotelli scored the first goal for Italy, in the left corner of the net, heading past German goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer after receiving a cross from
Antonio Cassano, then in the 36th minute, Balotelli scored again for Italy, this time blasted into the top right corner on a one-on-one with Neuer, assisted by a
Riccardo Montolivo lob over the German defence, giving them a two-goal lead. In the second half, the Germans attacked, trying to even the score. Italian goalkeeper
Gianluigi Buffon made several impressive saves to many German shots. Two minutes into added time, Italian defender
Federico Balzaretti committed a handball inside the penalty box. The resulting penalty was successfully converted by the German midfielder
Mesut Özil. Thus, the final score was 2–1 to Italy, who went on to the finals against defending champions Spain. As in their previous encounter in the 2006 World Cup semifinal match,
Andrea Pirlo was again elected the man of the match.
Euro 2016 On 2 July 2016, Germany and Italy met at the
Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux in
Bordeaux during the
quarter-finals of the
UEFA Euro 2016 where the match ended in a 1–1 draw after extra time, with Germany advancing 6–5 after a penalty shoot-out—statistically a draw, it was the first time ever Germany had overcome Italy in a competitive tie.
2022–23 UEFA Nations League Both teams were drawn together in Group A3 of the
2022–23 UEFA Nations League A. The first leg was played in Bologna where the game ended 1–1 and the second leg was played in Monchengladbach, during which Germany beat Italy 5–2 to earn their first-ever competitive win in regulation against Italy. ----
2024–25 UEFA Nations League Both teams were drawn together for the
quarter-finals of the
2024–25 UEFA Nations League A. ---- ==Statistics==