Five Italy players at risk of suspension if booked against France

BOLOGNA - OCTOBER 05: Gianluigi Donnarumma and Alessandro Bastoni of Italy during the UEFA Nations League 2026/27 group phase match between Italy and Türkiye at Renato Dall'Ara Stadium on October 05, 2026 in Bologna. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Italy will be in Nations League action against France on Thursday evening, and five of Roberto Mancini’s players will need to avoid a booking if they are to remain eligible to feature against Belgium later this week. 

Italy will take on France in San Siro at 19.45 GMT in their penultimate match of the Nations League group stage. The two nations were even at 1-1 when they met in Paris last month. 

As things stand ahead of kick-off, France lead the group on 10 points after four matches, Italy are in second on seven points, Belgium are third on six and Turkey are last on zero. 

Mancini’s matchday squad of 23 players has recently been confirmed: Honest Ahanor, Federico Gatti, Matteo Palma, Niccolo Pisilli, Alphadjo Cisse and Mattia Liberali have been sacrificed, but could still potentially feature against Belgium on Friday. 

Italy’s matchday squad vs. France 

Goalkeepers: 1. Gianluigi Donnarumma, 12. Marco Carnesecchi, 13. Guglielmo Vicario

Defenders: 2. Michael Kayode, 3. Giorgio Scalvini, 5. Riccardo Calafiori, 6. Alessandro Bastoni, 11. Federico Dimarco, 14. Marco Palestra,  22. Daniele Ghilardi.

Midfielders: 4. Samuele Ricci, 8. Sandro Tonali, 10. Nicolò Fagioli, 15. Issa Doumbia, 16. Davide Frattesi, 17. Alessandro Romano, 18. Nicolo Barella 

Forwards: 7. Sebastiano Esposito, 9. Pio Esposito, 19. Nicolò Cambiaghi, 20. Gianluca Scamacca, 21. Antonio Vergara, 23. Luca Koleosho.

Which Italy players need to avoid a booking against France? 

In the Nations League, players earn one-match suspensions for every even number of yellow cards they earn, i.e. after every second, fourth and sixth booking. 

As things stand, nine Italy players have been shown yellow cards during the first four group stage matches of the Nations League campaign. Five of those players are in the matchday squad against France. 

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, centre-back Alessandro Bastoni, central midfielder Nicolo Fagioli, winger Antonio Vergara and centre-forward Gianluca Scamacca are the five Italy players at risk of suspension on Thursday evening. 

Moise Kean, Daniel Maldini, Gianluca Mancini and Matteo Ruggeri have also been booked this Nations League campaign, but are not involved with the current Italy national team squad. 

Only three France players have been booked so far this Nations League campaign, and fortunately for Zinedine Zidane, none of them will be in action against Italy on Thursday. The Bleus players currently on bookings are Manu Kone, Maxence Lacrois and Esteban Lepaul.