Italy were the last team to win the World Cup before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. During that war, the old World Cup trophy – the Jules Rimet trophy, competed for until 1970 – was hidden under the bed of Dr Ottorino Barassi, an Italian sports official who had smuggled the trophy from a bank in Rome, in order to prevent it being confiscated by Nazis.

After scoring a penalty kick in Italy's 1938 World Cup semi final, Italian skipper Peppino Meazza was embarrassed to find his shorts – torn earlier in the game – had slipped down to leave him exposed. His celebrating teammates surrounded him until a new pair of shorts were found as a replacement.

At 40 years and 133 days old, Italy's Dino Zoff is the oldest man to play in a World Cup final. He is also the only goalkeeper to captain a World Cup-winning team, which he did in 1982.