Supercoppa Italiana guide: Dates, times, TV, team news – all you need to know

The Supercoppa Italiana gets underway on Thursday evening: Here is everything you need to know about the competition, how it works, the teams competing and their form heading into the mini-tournament in Saudi Arabia. 

The Supercoppa Italiana will feature two semi-finals and one final, made up of last season’s Serie A winners (Napoli) and the runners up (Inter), plus the reigning Coppa Italia champions (Bologna) and the runners up in that competition (Milan).  

Napoli vs. Milan is up first, kicking off at 19.00 GMT on Thursday evening. That will be followed by the Bologna vs. Inter semi-final at 19.00 GMT on Friday evening. The winners of those two ties will meet for the final on Monday (December 22) at 19.00 GMT. 

All three matches will be played at the same venue: At the King Saud University Stadium (also known as Al-Awwal Park) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

The Supercoppa Italiana matches will be available to watch live in the UK through Premier Sports. Supporters in the USA are able to tune in via Paramount+. 

You can also join us for all the pre-match build-up, in-game coverage and post-match reactions on the Football Italia Liveblog. 

Napoli will be looking to get back to winning ways in the Supercoppa Italiana after slipping to defeats in their last two matches: A 1-0 loss away against Udinese in Serie A and a 2-0 defeat by Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the Champions League. 

They had gone five matches unbeaten before the recent losses, and still sit just two points off the lead in the Serie A table. 

In terms of injuries, midfield is still the problem area for Antonio Conte, with no Kevin De Bruyne, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa or Billy Gilmour available. 

Stanislav Lobotka is available again after coming off the bench against Udinese, while Romelu Lukaku is part of the squad for the first time since the injury he picked up on August 14. 

Milan were held to a 2-2 draw by Sassuolo last time out in Serie A, which saw the Rossoneri slip into second place in the Serie A table, behind city rivals Inter. 

Milan, who are not involved in any European competition this term, have only lost twice all campaign: A 1-0 defeat by Lazio in the Coppa Italia, and a surprise 2-1 loss against Cremonese on the opening weekend of the Serie A season. 

The Rossoneri will be without Santiago Gimenez in for the Supercoppa Italiana, as he has elected to have surgery on a recurring ankle issue. Matteo Gabbia has not travelled either, but reports on Monday claimed there could be a chance that he joins the team later on should they qualify for the final. 

Bologna were beaten 1-0 by Juventus in Serie A last time out. In the month of December, Vincenzo Italiano’s side have beaten Celta Vigo 2-1 away from home in the Europa League, were held to a 1-1 draw by Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico, beat Parma 2-1 in the Coppa Italia and lost 3-1 to Cremonese in what has been a month of ups and downs. 

The Rossoblu will be without Nicolo Casale, Martin Vitik, Remo Freuler and Lukasz Skorupski for the Supercoppa. 

Inter boast the strongest league form of the four teams involved in the Coppa Italia. They sit at the top of the league table after a 2-1 win over Genoa, a 4-0 win over Como and a 2-0 victory away against Pisa this month. They have also thumped Venezia 5-1 in the Coppa Italia this month, but have lost 1-0 to Liverpool and 2-1 to Atletico in the Champions League. 

The Supercoppa Italiana will be a real test for Cristian Chivu, whose only real downfall in his Nerazzurri tenure thus far is his record against direct league rivals. 

Denzel Dumfries is facing two to three months out after having surgery. Francesco Acerbi is also out for several weeks. Hakan Calhanoglu is pushing to be available, Matteo Darmian, Tomas Palacios and Raffaele Di Gennaro are also out.