Former World Cup winner Daniele De Rossi, now a member of Italy's coaching staff, has been hospitalised in Rome with Covid-19, according to multiple media reports on Friday. The 37-year-old former Roma captain was one of four members of Italy's staff who were infected during recent 2022 World Cup qualifiers, in an outbreak which has also hit eight players. After a week, De Rossi's condition with a persistent fever and cough required more in-depth tests which revealed pneumonia, Gazzetta Dello Sport and Sky Sport reported. 

The former Italy midfielder has as a precautionary measure been hospitalised since Thursday at Rome's Spallanzani hospital which specialises in infectious diseases. The 'Azzurri' have suffered a wave of infections following their World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. Players infected include Juventus pair Federico Bernardeschi and Leonardo Bonucci, Atalanta's Matteo Pessina, Paris Saint-Germain's Alessandro Florenzi and Marco Verratti, Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo and Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno. Several media reports suggested Torino goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu has also caught the virus, but although the club have confirmed a case, they did not identify the player.