The 2026 World Cup dedicates Italy's crisis

The first time was considered a mere coincidence, the second was treated as a crisis; But now, with the Italian national football team failing to qualify for a World Cup for the third time in a row, this has become almost an expectation for a football nation that once achieved great successes that it boasted of.

The loss of the Italian national team, the four-time world champion, on penalties to the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, ranked 66th in the world, in the European qualifying round for the World Cup, came after Italy was eliminated in the same stage by the Swedish national football team before the 2018 World Cup, and by the North Macedonia national team in 2022.

The front page of the Italian newspaper "Gazzetta dello Sport", in its issue issued today, Wednesday, described the recent elimination as "the third end of the world," stating that "there is no longer a feeling of shock or unexpected catastrophe. It has become a normal thing."

The problems in Italian football are not limited to the Italian national team only.

The last Italian club to win the Champions League was Inter Milan in 2010, while the four Italian teams exited this season's competitions before the quarter-finals.

"It feels as if we are not ready for the big game. We are not ready when it matters... when you need to go the extra mile... when the pressure is on you," said Salvatore Corso, 34, who works for a tech start-up police, after watching Italy's defeat in a bar in Rome on Tuesday.

Among the failures that occur every four years, the national team is neglected.

None of the Italian national football team coaches succeeded in obtaining approval to hold additional training camps outside the international break periods specified by FIFA, despite their repeated attempts.

Under pressure from television rights holders, the Italian League constantly refuses to advance match dates to allow more time for the Italian national team players to rest before the matches, as happened when Fiorentina’s match against Inter Milan, in which a number of Italian national team players participated, was held on Sunday night, hours before the start of the training camp for the playoff matches on Monday.

With the accumulation of failures, it seems that the most prestigious coaches in Italy do not show any desire to take on the task of coaching the national team.

Roberto Mancini left his position in the Italian national team after the end of the 2024 European Nations Championship to take over as coach of the Saudi national team.