“Mea Culpa”: The Apocalypse of Italian Football

Failing to qualify for the FIFA World Cup once or twice is a disgrace and a setback for a country with a strong football tradition like Italy. However, if it happens three times in a row, it signifies a catastrophe. Unfortunately, almost no one is willing to take responsibility for the "disaster" experienced by the four-time World Cup champions.

Italian football, which was highly admired and respected, especially in the 1990s, now lacks dignity. For the first time, a team that has been champion, even four times like Italy, has failed to qualify for the World Cup for three consecutive times.

Even more embarrassingly, Italy failed to take advantage of the additional three European quota slots, following the expansion from 32 to 48 teams for the 2026 World Cup. "I still can't believe it. This (failure to qualify for the World Cup) is a tragedy, a shame. It's the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of Italian football," said Fabio Capello, the legendary Italian coach, as quoted by LLSN.

Capello's statement perfectly reflects the current disappointment and anger of the Italian public. Italy is the only nation in the world's top 19 that will not be playing in the main draw of the 2026 World Cup. In the 2026 World Cup qualifying playoff last weekend, the 12th-ranked team was eliminated by Bosnia and Herzegovina, the 65th-ranked team.

In fact, Italy was once known as the epicenter of football, particularly when Serie A became the best league in the world during the 1990s, featuring a lineup of the world's best players such as Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, and Ronaldo Luiz da Lima. Italy is also recognized as a producer of some of the finest coaches in the world.

Although Italy will be absent again, there are at least three coaches from that country who will participate in the 2026 World Cup. They are Carlo Ancelotti (Brazil), Fabio Cannavaro (Uzbekistan), and Vincenzo Montella (Turkey). Therefore, the country does not actually lack a supply of talented coaches.

"We must rebuild from scratch and think about how to recreate the conditions to improve the quality of young players," said Gianfranco Zola, former player of the Italian national team, highlighting the issue of football player development in Italy.

The issue of player development has indeed become a latent problem in Italy at present. There are almost no world-class stars in the current Italian squad, except for goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnaruma and wing-back Federico Dimarco. A more concerning situation is evident in the forward line. Their lineup of strikers consists of "discarded" players, such as Moise Kean (Fiorentina) and Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah).

The mediocre quality was clearly evident in Kean, the former Juventus player, when he had a golden opportunity to score against Bosnia and Herzegovina the other day. Faced with the goalkeeper and unchallenged by opposing defenders, he instead kicked the ball into the sky rather than towards the goal. Not long ago, Italy had a lineup of flamboyant strikers, such as Alessandro Del Piero, Francesco Totti, and Luca Toni.

Karma Bastoni

In the defensive line, Italy has now become the subject of ridicule following the recklessness of center-back Alessandro Bastoni, who received a red card for bringing down a Bosnia player during a counterattack situation. This moment is considered to have reversed Italy's fortunes. Italy's coach Gennaro Gattuso then sacrificed the attack by substituting Retegui for replacement center-back Federico Gatti.

Gattuso, who is naive, wanted to maintain the 1-0 lead through Moise Kean's goal in the 15th minute. However, the Italian national team during Gattuso's era was notoriously poor in terms of defensive quality. The Italian goal has conceded a total of 10 goals from 8 matches played under Gattuso. In the past, Italy was known for its strong defense. That solidity is what made them champions of the 2006 World Cup and the 2020 European Championship.

Bastoni has become one of the most scrutinized figures and has been made a scapegoat. Long before the match took place, many Italian supporters requested that the Inter Milan player be excluded from the Italian squad. The issue at hand is non-technical. A portion of the Italian public has yet to forgive Bastoni, who is considered to have acted cunningly and unethically during the match between Inter Milan and Juventus in the Italian League last February.

At that moment, Bastoni pretended to fall and acted in pain when stopped by Juventus wing-back, Pierre Kalulu. This manipulative action resulted in Kalulu receiving a red card. Unfortunately, Bastoni appeared overjoyed as if he had just won the World Cup when the referee sent Kalulu off. Despite apologizing, two days later, Bastoni continued to be jeered by spectators almost everywhere he appeared with Inter.

Several people claim that Italy's failure is karma for Bastoni. However, the issue does not stop there. Generally, the quality of Italian football has indeed been declining significantly. Their league, Serie A, has lost quality and is no longer the crucible for local Italian players.

Serie A clubs, whose revenues have continued to decline over the past two decades, have chosen to bring in a lineup of foreign twilight stars recruited for free, such as Luka Modric and Kevin De Bruyne, instead of promoting local talent. It is no surprise that the competitiveness of Italian clubs has continued to diminish, as evidenced by the absence of a champion from that country in the UEFA Champions League for the past 16 years.

The country's major clubs, such as Juventus, Inter Milan, Napoli, and AC Milan, failed to qualify or were absent from the knockout stages of this season's Champions League. Equally distressing, according to Football Italia, only one active Italian player in Serie A has ever played in the World Cup: Matteo Darmian (Inter Milan), who appeared in the 2014 edition.

"Italy is one of the greatest countries in football. However, in football academies, nothing is being built and no one is thinking about it," said Emiliano Viviano, former goalkeeper of the Italian national team, highlighting the issue of talent regeneration in football in Italy.

The failure to perform at the World Cup edition in the United States, Canada, and Mexico is worse than the "Superga Tragedy" in 1949, which claimed the lives of several players from the Torino club, who were then the backbone of the "Gli Azzurri" squad. Following that tragedy, Italy failed to qualify for the 1958 World Cup. That was the only World Cup edition that Italy did not participate in during the 20th century.

Failures in the modern era are more systemic and complex, among other reasons, due to the failures of academic reform and the management of the Italian league. Unfortunately, no one dares to take responsibility, or in other words, "mea culpa." The President of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), Gabriele Gravina, as the party most responsible, refuses to step down. In fact, Italy has failed to qualify twice in a row during his leadership, previously in the 2022 edition.

It is not surprising that the FIGC office in Rome was pelted with eggs by Italian supporters who are fed up with its leadership. Italy's Minister of Sports, Andrea Abodi, even openly stated that the FIGC needs new leadership. Claudio Lotito, the President of Lazio, has even resorted to political means, specifically through the Italian Senate, to urge Gravina's resignation.

However, Gravina remains steadfast. Instead of stepping down, he stated that he would retain Gattuso as the coach. He seems intent on repeating his mistake after the failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. At that time, he continued to support Roberto Mancini as the coach due to the consideration of the success in winning the European Championship 2020, which was held in 2021. The coach ultimately resigned in 2023.

Without Gravina's willingness to step down, Italian football is at risk of being held hostage. If political elements and government pressure are too dominant in the reform process, Italian football could be suspended. This was previously experienced by Indonesia, which was penalized by FIFA following the Indonesian government's intervention in PSSI in 2015.

On the other hand, if the status quo persists, it's difficult to expect meaningful change. Moreover, Gattuso also refused to act chivalrously by stepping down after his failure. He simply apologized to the public and refused to discuss his future in office.

Without a chivalrous attitude, like that of a Roman gladitor, it's hard to expect Italian football to recover anytime soon. "Everyone involved in Italian football should apologize for what we've seen in the last 12 years, with the exception of Euro 2020," said Italian national team legend Franco Baressi.