Position: Defender
Born: 08.05.81
Club: Palermo

A member of the Italy side that won the European Under-21 Championship in 2004, Andrea Barzagli has timed his rise to prominence perfectly to be a part of the World Cup squad.

The central defender made his mark at Chievo before switching to Palermo in June 2004 and made his full international debut later that year.

He only missed three league games in his first campaign with the Sicilian giants and his performances in that season and in the interim would not have been out of place were they from a man 10 years his senior.

There remains huge competition in the Italian backline and the likes of Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi and Alessandro Nesta are ahead of him in the pecking order, but his quality will shine through if he does feature.