I know this may sound like the DUMBEST question EVER, but how on Earth did Italia come up with BLUE kits. Their national flag is Green, White and Red....so what gives with the blue??? If this has been asked or is just too lame for a thread, I understand. Someone please just PM me. Thanks so much....sorry im a curious soul.
Not a dumb question, and the reason goes back a ways Light blue was the color of the royal house of the Kingdom of Italy. In its first two matches, the Italian national team wore white shirts with shorts from the club of each player; the azure shirts were introduced in the third match.
Yep, and because blue was the royal color, all Italian National Teams in every sport wear blue. Edit- (I think that was my 10,000th post). cool...
Nice little history of the national jersey on wiki's italian site. Doesn't include every edition though. Just scroll down http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazionale_di_calcio_dell'Italia First ever kit : My personal favorite :
The colour blue also has religious meaning behind it to Italians. Blue is the color of the sky and of the oceans, thus making it "God's colour" or the colour of life in a way.
I remember in Lippi's debut as coach in Iceland v. Italy, August 2004, we wore a dark blue third kit. But after that match we never saw it again.
Personally I think that was a nice looking kit, but as I'm sure Cassano knows, azzurro usually refers to a specific shade of blue, as in azure, or the color of the sky, but darker than celeste (think Napoli!), a light sky blue. I have seen slightly different definitions and usages over the years (I am an interpreter by trade) but most of them mention a lighter blue color. Maybe the suits at FIGC saw it on the pitch, thought "cazzo, questo non e' azzurro", and realized that is not our color. Funny thing...when I saw the question in the title, I was ready to answer "because they wear blue uniforms of course". I guess the nuances of language still occasionally escape me.
Interesting. I just looked up the word azzurro at Answers.com and this is what I found... "The term azure derives from the Persian لاژورد lazhward, which was the name of a place known for its deposits of the deep blue stone now called lapis lazuli (stone of lazhward)." Lapis Lazuli
The only kits we had that weren't Azzurro were the Kappa kits from Euro 2000 and WC 2002. They were too light to be Azzurro.
oh man i would love to buy that dark blue one I THOUGHT the blue represented the color of the mediterranian sea since most of italy is surrounded by that water. p.s. im glad the colors are blue cuz i dont think i would have liked it if it was green, white and red or any of those type of mixtures.
Off the top of my head it looks like the US '94 kit. Italy was my second team through that tournament
I was lucky enough to go to the semifinal with Bulgaria in 1994. I couldn't believe how many Italians (they estimated 60,000 or so pro Italia fans if I remember correctly). Yes, Baggio had great hair.
I highly doubt it lol. If anything it was probably their goalkeeper's jersey. I've seen Buffon wear everything from black to red in goal for the Azzurri over the years. But as far as I know the standard kits for the NT are blue and white.