8 National teams with Gallini Cup players at FIFA 2026
At the last FIFA World Cup hosted in USA, Canada and Mexico, 8 former Gallini Cup players have played equally divided in 8 different National teams, including the Gallini Cup 2017 winner Baždar Samed.
From Austria to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this list of the Gallini Cup players which took part at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, represents the wide variety of football schools that every year are possible to witness at the Gallini Cup in Pordenone:
| First Name | Last Name | National Team | Gallini Cup club | Gallini Cup edition |
| Ljubičić | Dejan | AUSTRIA | SK Rapid Wien | 2012 |
| Baždar | Samed | BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA | FK Partizan | 2017 |
| Kovačić | Mateo | CROATIA | GNK Dinamo Zagreb | 2009 |
| Wan-Bissaka | Aaron | DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO | Crystal Palace FC | 2012 |
| Sher | Aimar | IRAQ | Hammarby IF | 2017 |
| Barsham | Meshaal | QATAR | Aspire Academy | 2013 |
| Karlström | Jesper | SWEDEN | IF Brommapojkarna | 2010 |
| Müldür | Mert | TÜRKİYE | SK Rapid Wien | 2014 |
14 National Teams with Gallini Cup Players
The last three FIFA World Cups have seen the biggest participation of Gallini Cup players. The 8 Gallinizers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, come after 15 talents seen at the tournament in Pordenone of Qatar 2022 and 12 of Russia 2018.
In Russia 2018 the spotlight was on the footballers of the Japan National team which won the Gallini Cup 2006, while Qatar 2022 saw a strong presence of Serbian stars winners of the tournament in Pordenone both with the trophy and individual awards.
The total number of National teams with former Gallini Cup players in their last FIFA World Cups squad have been outstanding, 14: Austria, Bosnia And Herzegovina, Croatia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Iraq, Japan, Nigeria, Qatar, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye.
This makes the Gallini Cup the most international youth football tournament in Italy, with partecipating teams not only from Europe, but also from Japan, USA, Brazil, South Africa and many more Countries from all around the world.
Photo: Japan national football team during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 29 June 2018. Photographer: Svetlana Beketova / soccer.ru. Original photograph cropped for this publication. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0) licence. Original source – Wikimedia Commons.
Italy is Getting Ready with 14 Gallinizers in the Senior Team
While Italy may not have qualified for the last three World Cups, in the meantime 14 Gallini Cup players have represented the senior National team. Some of them as well known Serie A players, others as upcoming talents to watch out for:
| First Name | Family Name | Gallini Cup club | Year | Notes |
| Raoul | Bellanova | AC Milan | 2015 | Winner |
| Mattia | Caldara | Atalanta | 2009 | |
| Alphadjo | Cisse | Hellas Verona | 2021 | |
| Pietro | Comuzzo | Udinese / Pordenone | 2018 / 2019 | Winner 2018 |
| Diego | Coppola | Hellas Verona | 2018 | |
| Roberto | Gagliardini | Atalanta | 2009 | |
| Samuele | Inacio | Atalanta | 2023 | Winner and Top Scorer |
| Alex | Meret | Udinese | 2012 | |
| Caleb | Okoli | Atalanta | 2016 | |
| Simone | Pafundi | Udinese / Udinese | 2018 / 2020 | Winner and Top Scorer 2018 |
| Matteo | Palma | Udinese | 2022 | Winner |
| Samuele | Ricci | Empoli FC | 2016 | |
| Daniele | Rugani | Empoli FC | 2009 | |
| Giorgio | Scalvini | Atalanta | 2019 | Winner |
