Italy aren’t going to the World Cup. Again. And this time there’s no tactical excuse, no bad luck, no phantom goal to appeal. What there is: a federation in ruins, a dressing room that demanded money before playing, and a generation of officials who have just handed in their resignations like someone returning the keys to a burning building.

Three World Cups, Three Failures

Let’s line up the facts. In 2018, Italy fell in the playoff against Sweden. In 2022, North Macedonia eliminated them in Palermo with a last-minute goal. In 2026, Bosnia and Herzegovina beat them on penalties in Zenica. Three different playoff formats, three different squads, three different managers. The same result.

Italy are going to miss the first ever 48-team World Cup in history. There’s room for 48 nations and the four-time world champions aren’t among them. That’s not bad luck. That’s a structural problem.

Bonus-Gate: When the Dressing Room Exposes Itself

Days before the playoff against Bosnia, several national team players demanded a bonus of 300,000 euros. Not after qualifying. Before. They wanted to be paid for trying.

Gennaro Gattuso, the manager, rejected the request. For Gattuso, bonuses are earned with results, not negotiated in advance. And he was right. But the damage was already done. When a dressing room is thinking about money before a do-or-die match, the problem isn’t financial. It’s mental.

La Repubblica broke the story and the contrast with previous generations was inevitable. The Italy of Cannavaro, Pirlo, Gattuso (as a player), and Del Piero won the 2006 World Cup in the middle of a corruption scandal that nearly destroyed Italian football. That team played with rage. This one asked for a cheque.

Resignations in a Chain: The End of an Era

Gabriele Gravina, president of the FIGC, resigned under pressure from Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, who didn’t mince words: “Italian football needs to be rebuilt from scratch, and you start at the top.” Gravina was 72 and had presided over the federation since the Euro 2021 triumph — Italy’s last moment of glory.

Gianluigi Buffon, head of delegation, resigned the same day. And Gattuso is expected to follow. Three heads of the national team gone in 48 hours. Elections for a new FIGC president are scheduled for June 22nd.

The Serie A Paradox

Here’s what doesn’t make sense: Italian clubs compete in the Champions League. Inter were finalists in 2023. Juventus and AC Milan remain global brands. Serie A generates talent, investment, and spectacle.

But the national team doesn’t work. And the reason is that the problem isn’t the players — it’s the structure. Italy produces competitive footballers — Barella, Tonali, Bastoni are among the best in Europe in their positions. What it doesn’t produce is a coherent national team project. Every cycle starts from zero, with a new manager, a new idea, and the same result.

Is Reconstruction Possible?

UEFA has already warned that Italy could lose the right to host Euro 2032 if it doesn’t sort out its infrastructure issues. It’s not just the national team. The entire Italian football ecosystem needs a deep overhaul.

The generation of Barella, Tonali, and Bastoni has the quality to compete. But without a functioning federation, without a long-term project, and without a dressing room that understands that representing Italy is a privilege, not a contract, talent goes to waste.

Italy have been world champions four times. Today they don’t know if they’ll be able to host a European Championship. The distance between those two sentences is the exact measure of the crisis.

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Provocative opinion. The facts are the facts.