AC Milan, Genoa And Mussolini: How Cricket Took Root -- And Nearly Died -- In Italy

Last Updated:February 09, 2026, 12:41 IST

Cricket in Italy is far older than most assume -- and also shares a fascinating history with a couple of their most iconic football clubs.

Italy are finally heading to a World Cup. Not football’s, though — well, at least not yet.

Instead, it’s cricket’s Azzurri who are carrying the tricolour onto the global stage, quietly making history while the country’s storied football team continues to stumble.

For a nation that lives and breathes calcio, Italy’s first-ever qualification for a men’s Cricket World Cup feels improbable. But dig a little deeper, and it’s anything but random.

Italy’s storied history with Cricket

Cricket in Italy is far older than most assume. The first recorded match on Italian soil dates back to 1793, organised in Naples Harbour by British admiral Horatio Nelson to keep sailors occupied while docked.

The sport even helped shape Italian football.

Genoa, Italy’s oldest football club, was founded in 1893 as the Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club — a name it still carries today. AC Milan, seven-time European champions, were established in 1899 as the Milan Football and Cricket Club. Their 2024–25 away kit nods to those cricketing roots.

Football took over. Cricket never vanished, but rather it just slipped into the margins.

How Mussolini’s regime almost killed Cricket

Cricket’s decline accelerated during Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime (1922–43). Labelled a “foreign" British sport, cricket was sidelined while football became a propaganda tool for national unity. Funds, infrastructure and attention flowed almost exclusively to Serie A.

The British expatriate community that sustained Italian cricket dwindled amid rising political tensions, and the sport faded from public life. The echoes remain: as recently as 2023, cricket was banned in Monfalcone for being “un-Italian".

A long road back to prominence

Italy’s modern cricket revival began with the formation of its federation in 1980. Recognition as an ICC Associate Member followed in 1995, and later acknowledgement by the Italian Olympic Committee unlocked access to government funding.

Today, Italy has around 4,000 registered male players, roughly 80 clubs across a two-tier system, and a national side shaped by heritage players and first- and second-generation immigrants.

“Just to be there and playing is the end of 45 years of hard work," said federation CEO Luca Bruno Malaspina.

Infrastructure, identity and what comes next

Italy still lacks proper cricket infrastructure — hosting “home" internationals in England and the Netherlands — but plans are underway for turf pitches and a more professional domestic structure.

Talks are ongoing for a potential Italian franchise in a proposed European T20 league by 2027, alongside grassroots efforts to introduce cricket in schools.

How their debut T20 World Cup nod is shifting the landscape 

At the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, Italy sit in Group C with Scotland, Nepal, England and the West Indies.

An upset would be seismic, but simply being there already matters.

Assistant coach Kevin O’Brien, the man behind Ireland’s iconic 2011 World Cup shock of England, summed it up neatly: “Hopefully, they might look at what we’ve done and take inspiration."

So next time you think Italy look out of place at the T20 World Cup, remember that the Azzurri’s presence is not a fluke — it’s been decades in the making.

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