Italy vs Belgium: Mancini and Van Bommel begin Nations League campaigns

ROME — Roberto Mancini begins his second spell as Italy head coach on Friday when the Azzurri host Belgium at the Stadio Olimpico. The opening 2026–27 UEFA Nations League match is also Mark van Bommel’s competitive debut in charge of Belgium.

Italy vs Belgium kicks off at 8:45 p.m. local time (7:45 p.m. BST / 2:45 p.m. EDT). It is the first of four group fixtures each side will play over an 11-day international window in League A, Group 1, alongside France and Turkey.

Mancini has named nine uncapped players in a 34-man squad led by goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Donnarumma, who has 83 international caps. Italy are without suspended center back Alessandro Bastoni, while injuries have ruled out defender Federico Dimarco and midfielders Bryan Cristante and Manuel Locatelli. With Mateo Retegui omitted, Moise Kean, Gianluca Scamacca, Sebastiano Esposito and Pio Esposito are in contention at central forward.

Van Bommel, formerly manager of Antwerp and PSV Eindhoven, succeeds Rudi Garcia. Belgium reached the 2026 World Cup quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions Spain, a defeat that ended an 18-match unbeaten streak under Garcia. He subsequently stepped down.

Kevin De Bruyne and Belgium’s record international goalscorer Romelu Lukaku remain in the squad, with midfielder Youri Tielemans slated to captain the team. The roster also includes younger players Mika Godts and Roméo Lavia; Malick Fofana and Matias Fernandez-Pardo could make their senior competitive international debuts.

Mancini returned after Italy failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They finished second to Norway in their European qualifying group and beat Northern Ireland in the playoff semifinals, but lost the playoff final to Bosnia-Herzegovina in a penalty shootout. Gennaro Gattuso was dismissed after the elimination. Silvio Baldini then oversaw post-season friendly victories against Luxembourg and Greece as interim manager before the Italian Football Federation finalized Mancini’s return.

Belgium’s changes include the international retirement of Axel Witsel and goalkeeper Mats Selz stepping away. Thibaut Courtois is taking an authorized sabbatical from the national team, while Amadou Onana remains sidelined by a long-term injury sustained during the World Cup. Leandro Trossard is unavailable, and Jeremy Doku was excluded to manage his workload after recently recovering from injury.

Italy have won four of the sides’ last five meetings. In their most recent encounter at the Stadio Olimpico, in October 2024, Belgium came back from two goals down to draw 2-2. German referee Daniel Siebert has been assigned Friday’s match in the Italian capital.

Rai 1 will broadcast the match nationally in Italy, with streaming on RaiPlay. Amazon Prime Video will carry live pay-per-view coverage in the United Kingdom.