Cristian Zaccardo established himself as a regular in the national squad during the World Cup qualifying campaign and repaid coach Marcello Lippi's faith in him by scoring the crucial goal in the 1-0 win against Slovenia that secured the Azzurri's place in the finals. The 24-year-old is a consistent performer at right-back but many in Italy believe he owes his international career to a long-running feud between Lippi and Christian Panucci, which has seen the Roma defender exiled from the Azzurri squad. He began his club career at Bologna and played over 70 first-team games for the Rossoblu before following coach Francesco Guidolin to Palermo in 2004 and helping the Sicilians to qualify for the UEFA Cup in their first season back in Serie A.