England will hope to retain their Arnold Clark Cup title over the next week as they gear up for the second-ever edition of the tournament with the fixture against Korea Republic on Thursday.
In last year's tournament, the Lionesses topped the standings ahead of Canada, Spain and Germany to clinch the trophy. This year, as they look to win the title for a second time, they will be up against Korea Republic, Italy and Belgium.
Sarina Wiegman's side face Italy on Sunday in the afternoon kick-off at the CBS Arena in Coventry. We've taken a closer look at the opponents and the threat they could present against England.
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Who are Italy?
The Italy women's national football team was established in 1968 and is governed by the Italian Football Federation.
They've reached three World Cups so far in their history and will be in action at this summer's tournament in Australia and New Zealand. The furthest they've ever progressed is to the quarter-final stage, in 2019 they were knocked out by the Netherlands following a 2-0 defeat.
On the European stage, they have been runners-up on two occasions in 1993 and 1997. At the last two European championships in 2017 and 2022, they failed to progress past the group stage on both occasions.
The Italian women's Serie A only became a fully-professional league at the start of the current season as salary caps have been removed and teams are now able to pay players higher wages.
Who is the manager?
The Italian women's team is managed by former player Milena Bertolini, the 56-year-old played for teams across the country between 1984 and 2001.
She took charge of the team in 2017 and guided them to their first World Cup qualification ahead of the 2019 tournament following a 20-year absence.
Who is their star players?
Arianna Caruso is only 23 years of age but she already has a wealth of experience behind her. She joined Juventus in 2017 and has already recorded 22 goals in 96 appearances for the club in all competitions. The midfielder has 22 caps and 10 goals to her name so far for the national side.
Cristiana Girelli of Juventus has long been a key player for the national side. She has 78 caps and 48 goals since her debut in 2013. The 32-year-old has won two Serie A golden boots in 2019/20 season and 2020/21 season.
Form guide
Italy have only won two of their last five fixtures since September last year. Their World Cup qualifying campaign was positive with an 8-0 win over Moldova and a 2-0 victory against Romania.
However, their last three friendlies have all ended in defeat. They were beaten 1-0 by Brazil back in October, lost 1-0 to Austria a month later and their final game of 2022 saw them lose out 1-0 to Northern Ireland.
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