National teams of France and Italy are long time rivals as the two countries are neighbours and both are Latin countries where football is the national sport. In recent times this rivalry has been more diffused as many top French players have played for top-flight Italian clubs, notably Patrick Vieira (Juventus & Inter Milan), Lilian Thuram (Parma FC & Juventus), David Trézéguet (Juventus), Marcel Desailly (A.C. Milan) and Zinédine Zidane (Juventus) to name a few.

For many years Italy dominated (before 1982 : 17 wins, 3 losses and 6 draws), but since 1982 the situation has changed. The French team had not lost a single game against Italy (with 5 wins and 4 draws) till their 2-0 loss at the Euro 2008 which led to France being knocked out of the tournament.

Several games remain in the memory of football fans and have put their mark on the World Cup and of the European Football Championship. Among them, the World Cup 1998, when the French team barely scraped past Italy in the quarter-finals after penalties (4-3), the 2000 European Championship, won by France with golden goal by David Trézéguet, and the 2006 World Cup, where Italy narrowly beat France 5-3 at in the penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw. Most recently, the Azzurri pulled off a victory against the Les Bleus in a crucial game for both teams on June 17, 2008 at Euro 2008.