THE VITALS:

Team: Italy

Brand: Puma

Era: 2003-04 (Used during the 2004 UEFA European Championships Qualifying Campaign)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This fantastic and rare shirt comes to you in still very good condition! There are some patches of slight discolouring around the underarms and the seams have come away from the inside of the collar from the front, however, the felt Puma applications and national team crest are in brilliant stead!

DIMENSIONS:

Size: 34-36

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19 inches

Shirt Length: 26.5 inches 

Made by Puma in their ‘Authentic Team Apparel’ range of shirts which they originally introduced in 2002; the dimensions of this shirt would also suggest that this shirt would also fit a size small, however, please by mindful of the shirt length.

DESCRIPTION:

After Kappa’s incredible series of shirts they made the ‘Azzurri’, it was now Puma’s opportunity to create the latest series of masterpieces and their debut home shirt was as good as any made before! Made using Puma’s stunning template that they introduced ahead of the 2002-03 season; these shirts were characterised by the signature elliptical cuts of the sleeves and collar, and when combined with a cool cerulean and white piping, the result was never going to be anything less than spectacular! Giovanni Trapattoni’s side would lose just once during the short 12 match cycle this strip was used fore; most importantly however, reaching the finals of Euro 2004 by winning their group in qualifying!

THE SEASON(S):

Italy could finally put a difficult 2002 behind them as they began their new relationship with Puma as kit supplier, and the German sportswear powerhouse would see their debut strip on display in the February 12^th friendly win over Portugal where Bernardo Corradi netted the winner in the 1-0 win in Genoa!

After their stunning defeat to Wales in Euro 2004 qualifying back on October 16^th; Italy got back in the winning column when Christian Vieri’s brace saw off Finland 2-0 in March 29^th! They’d make it 3-0 in 2003 when they came back from behind to edge past Switzerland on the 30^th April.

The national side would reunite at the close of the European club season for their pair of June encounters, starting with a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland on June 3^rd, before completing the double over Finland 8 days later in Helsinki; claiming a 2-0 win in the Finnish capital! They would be due another tough test on the friendly circuit and they would pass in flying colours as they edged past Germany 1-0 on August 20^th to set themselves for a grudge match with Wales on September 6^th.

They would welcome ‘The Dragons’ to the San Siro and Filippo Inzaghi would help himself to a hat-trick as Italy prevailed 4-0 to win 7 games in a row for the first time 1973! A late Sasa Ilic goal for Serbia and Montenegro denied them an 8^th win on the bounce as the two nations battled to a 1-1 draw on September 10^th, however, Italy would make light work Azerbaijan in their final qualifier; defeating the Balkan nation 4-0 to claim first position and seal their ticket to the big summer tournament in Portugal that coming summer!

Italy would suffer defeat for the first time in 14 months when they were stunned 3-1 away to Poland on November 12^th, however, Marco Di Vaio’s goal versus Romania would ensure 2003 ended with a 1-0 win! This shirt would feature for the final time on February 18^th 2004 when Italy and the Czech Republic played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in Palermo!

The notable players to wear that season(s) were:

Filippo Inzaghi, Marco Di Vaio, Bernardo Corradi, Marco Delvecchio, Antonio Di Natale, Christian Vieri, Vincenzo Montella, Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano, Stefano Fiore, Daniele de Rossi, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Massimo Oddo, Nicola Legrottaglie, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Francesco Toldo