Italy coach Marcello Lippi has cut five players including Giuseppe Rossi and Mattia Cassani to whittle down his squad to twenty-three as La Nazionale prepares for its FIFA World Cup title defence.

Lippi has opted for the spine of this starting eleven to feature those that lifted the trophy in Berlin at Germany 2006 as Camoranesi passed a late fitness test to be included alongside eight other fellow World Champions Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Gilardino and 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year and Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro.

There are thirteen changes from that of Donadoni's Euro 2008 squad and eight changes to Lippi's Confederation Cup squad of 2009.

Italy squad
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari)

Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Cristian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (Milan)

Forwards: Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)

Lippi also confirmed the squad numbers for the tournament.
1 - Gianluigi Buffon
2 - Christian Maggio
3 - Domenico Criscito
4 - Giorgio Chiellini
5 - Fabio Cannavaro
6 - Daniele De Rossi
7 - Simone Pepe
8 - Gennaro Gattuso
9 - Vincenzo Iaquinta
10 - Antonio Di Natale
11 - Alberto Gilardino
12 - Federico Marchetti
13 - Salvatore Bocchetti
14 - Morgan De Sanctis
15 - Claudio Marchisio
16 - Mauro German Camoranesi
17 - Angelo Palombo
18 - Fabio Quagliarella
19 - Gianluca Zambrotta
20 - Giampaolo Pazzini
21 - Andrea Pirlo
22 - Riccardo Montolivo
23 - Leonardo Bonucci