(Claudio Villa / Correspondent/Getty Images)
The color of the shirts of the famous Squadra Azzurra (“Blue Squadron”) is a tribute to the Savoias, the royal family that played a leading role in the unification of Italy in the 19th century.
Blue, the official color of Italian royalty, began to dye the uniform of the football team in 1911, when the country was still a monarchy. At the establishment of the republic, in 1946, the only alteration was the exchange of the royal coat of arms – red with a white cross, representing the family coat of arms – for another with the colors of the flag: green, white and red.
But blue was not the only color of the Italian team. In the first two official matches of the selection, the uniform was white, simply because the fabric was cheaper. In 1937, the team adopted an all-black model, the color symbol of the fascist government of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. The experience was short-lived and blue returned after World War II in 1945.
The option for this color influenced teams from the Italian colony around the world. In Brazil, Cruzeiro also plays with the blue shirt – and Palmeiras already wore it before opting for the green one.
It is worth remembering that the Azzurra is not the only team that has colors different from the flag on its uniform. The Netherlands, called “A Clockwork Orange”, also wears the hue of its royal family rather than the red, white and blue of its flag. Japan, on the other hand, prefers the colors of the Japan Football Association, white and blue, instead of the red and white of the national flag.