Fevola and Koutoufides were named in the exhalted team of 18 plus four interchange, together with former Carlton premiership wingman Scott Camporeale and the game’s greatest father/son combination, Sergio and Stephen Silvagni - the latter having celebrated his 40^th birthday on the night.

Together with Essendon, Carlton boasted he greatest player representation in the team, with former Carlton footballer and premiership coach Ron Barassi also named coach.

The VFL/AFL Italian Team Of The Century - comprising some of the greatest names the nation’s only truly Indigenous code has ever known - was named before more than 1000 people in attendance for the once-in-a-lifetime charity event at Melbourne’s The Palladium at Crown.

The event, which was staged by prominent Italian organisation the Toccolan Club and supported by the AFL, raised $175,000 for the Royal Children’s Hospital.

The elite 18-man Team (plus four interchange) was selected from a squad of 50 players, which was in turn cherry-picked from a list of 148 known footballers of Italian origin - each of whom has made a unique contribution to the game at various stages over 110 years of League competition (see http://www.italianteamofthecentury.com.au/).

The VFL/AFL Italian Team Of The Century is as follows;

Backs: Frank Curcio, Stephen Silvagni, Len Incigneri

Half-backs: Alec Epis, Anthony Koutoufides, John Kennedy jun.

Centres: Robert DiPierdomenico, Ian Stewart (Cervi), Peter Matera

Half-forwards: Peter Riccardi, Alan Martello, Mark Mercuri

Forwards: Phillip Matera, Saverio Rocca, Brendan Fevola

Followers: Steve Alessio, Mark Ricciuto

Rover: Peter Pianto

Interchange: Sergio Silvagni, Tony Liberatore, Scott Camporeale, Joe Misiti

Captain: Mark Ricciuto

Coach: Ron Barassi

President: Frank Costa

The Team includes two members of the AFL’s Team Of The Century – full-back Stephen Silvagni (who celebrates his 40^th birthday today) and centreman Ian Stewart – who have been named in those same positions for the Italian Team.

Koutoufides, named in the Greek Team Of The Century on account of his late father’s Greek Egyptian heritage, was also eligible for inclusion in the Italian Team given that his mother is Italian-born.

When asked by guest presenter Dennis Cometti which team he’d represent if both the Italian and Greek teams played, Koutoufides replied: “Tonight, the Italian Team”.

Similarly Peter Matera, named in the Indigenous Team Of The Century by virtue of his mother’s heritage, was eligible for selection for the Italian Team as his father is Italian-born.

John Kennedy junior qualified as his maternal grandparents were Italian-born.

The Italian Team Of The Century also comprises;

• the first footballer of Italian origin to captain and coach a senior League team and the only footballer to complete his career before World War II - Len Incigneri;
• an Australian Football Hall Of Fame Legend - Ian Stewart - and Hall Of Fame inductee  - Stephen Silvagni;
• four Brownlow Medallists - Ian Stewart (1965-’66 & ’71), Robert DiPierdomenico (1986), Tony Liberatore (1990) and Mark Ricciuto (2003);
• a Norm Smith Medallist - Peter Matera (1992);
• a reigning Coleman Medallist who, since 1897, is the only footballer of Italian origin to be the League’s leading goalkicker in a season - Brendan Fevola (2006);
• a father/son combination - Sergio and Stephen Silvagni (Carlton);
• a set of brothers - Peter and Phillip Matera (West Coast)
• 16 premiership players including five-time Hawthorn premiership footballer Robert DiPierdomenico;
• 11 club best and fairest players, including three-time winners Ian Stewart and Mark Ricciuto;
• two 300-game players - Stephen Silvagni (312, Carlton) and Mark Ricciuto (303, Adelaide);
• fourteen 200-game players and five 100-game players, with only Len Incigneri (97 games) failing to break the ton;
• seven club Team Of The Century players – Sergio and Stephen Silvagni (Carlton); Frank Curcio (Fitzroy); Tony Liberatore (Footscray/Western Bulldogs); Peter Pianto (Geelong); Robert DiPierdomenico (Hawthorn); and Ian Stewart (St Kilda and Richmond);
• 12 All-Australian Representatives;
• an AFLPA Most Valuable Player - Anthony Koutoufides (2000); and
• four current players – Scott Camporeale, Brendan Fevola, Anthony Koutoufides and the Italian Team Of The Century Captain, Mark Ricciuto

The Italian Team Of The Century was recently finalised after a marathon meeting of the eight-man selection panel comprising President Frank Costa, Coach and Chairman Ron Barassi, together with Kevin Bartlett, Brendon Gale, John Russo, Kevin Sheedy, Bob Skilton and Bill Stephen.

Each of the 148 footballers eligible for selection met the following criteria, in that:

• he has played senior VFL/AFL football at some point between the years 1897 and 2006 inclusive; and
• he is either Italian-born or a first or second-generation Australian of Italian origin (ie. at least one of his parents and/or grandparents, paternal or maternal, is Italian-born).

Of the 148 VFL/AFL footballers to have met the aforementioned selection criteria, only one – Carlton’s one-gamer Peter Bevilacqua – is Italian-born.

Len Incigneri and Frank Curcio, who died in 1964 and 1988 respectively, were represented at the event by their sons Len Clark (Incigneri) junior and Michael Curcio.

Apologies were accepted by Mark Ricciuto, who was named Italian Team Of The Century captain, and half-forward Peter Riccardi, whose wife is expecting their second child.

Each player was presented with a specially-made Italian Team Of The Century Guernsey, with replicas auctioned on the evening.

The guernseys of both Stephen Silvagni and Brendan Fevola fetched the highest amounts at auction - $15,500 and $15,000 respectively.