Italy's FIFA World Cup™ winning footballers were officially honoured for their summer 2006 triumph at a reception in the Quirinal Palace in Rome on 8 January 2007, where State President Giorgio Napolitano conferred the title Cavaliere Ufficiale on the players. Coach Marcello Lippi was elevated to the rank of Commendatore.

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, a guest at the ceremony in Rome, took the opportunity for a moment of penitence, apologising to the Italian players and officials for not personally handing over the FIFA World Cup Trophy on 9 July 2006 in Berlin. Fearing a possibly hostile reception, Blatter explained he had decided in advance of the Final to entrust the award ceremony to FIFA Organising Committee Chairman Lennart Johansson, German State President Horst Köhler, and Local Organising Committee President Franz Beckenbauer. "For this reason, I simply greeted the teams in the tunnel before the match. However, history has indicated it was a mistake for the FIFA President not to honour the Azzurri as the new FIFA World Cup winners," Blatter told a meeting of the players and officials.

At the same meeting, Blatter presented Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon with the Lev Yashin trophy, awarded by the FIFA Technical Study Group to the Best Goalkeeper at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™. Buffon was scheduled to receive the trophy at the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich last December, but pulled out of the event as a mark of respect to two Juventus youth players who lost their lives in a freak accident at the club's training ground.