Italy drawn alongside Spain in 2018 World Cup qualification group
The groups for the qualifying campaign, due to start next year after the conclusion of Euro 2016, were drawn on Friday evening in Switzerland, providing many interesting encounters along the way.
The rest of the six-team group is composed of Albania, Israel, Macedonia, and Liechtenstein.
Antonio Conte’s Azzurri side are looking to build upon a succession of disappointing tournament results since their 2006 World Cup triumph, with the campaigns in 2010 and 2014 being disastrous.
They did manage to infamously reach the Euro 2012 final, but were trounced by Spain in arguably one of the most one-sided contests in recent memory.