World Cup 2026: Italy’s football chief resigns after qualifying failure

Italian men’s football has struggled recently, in contrast with other Italian teams.The head of Italy’s football federation (FIGC) has resigned, falling on his sword after the men’s national team failed to qualify for a World Cup for a third consecutive time.Gabriele Gravina revealed he would step down as the country’s top football official following a meeting held at the FIGC’s headquarters in Rome on Thursday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Tiger Woods declines 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy; can leave US for treatmentlist 2 of 4Pakistan cricketer Fakhar Zaman handed two-match PSL ban for ball tamperinglist 3 of 4‘Enough is enough’: Semenya pledges to fight Olympic gender-testing policylist 4 of 4Pakistan cricketer Shah’s post on Chief Minister Nawaz costs him $71,000end of listHis announcement came a day after Sport Minister Andrea Abodi called on him to resign.Four-time World Cup winners Italy fell at the playoffs again on Tuesday, this time after a penalty shootout against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and will miss this year’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.The shock waves of the latest humiliation for one of the world’s most successful football nations forced Gravina, 72, to go back on his initial plans to wait until a FIGC board meeting next week to announce a decision on his future.The FIGC said in a statement that a vote for a new president would be held on June 22.Giovanni Malago, the former longtime head of the Italian National Olympic Committee who was president of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics organisation committee, is reportedly one of the names in the hat.Before then, head coach Gennaro Gattuso is expected to also step down, while general manager Gianluigi Buffon, the former Italy goalkeeper, announced his resignation on Thursday.Italy’s failure to reach the first-ever 48-team World Cup – which will feature the likes of Cape Verde and Curacao – led Abodi to release a statement saying: “It’s clear that Italian football needs to be rebuilt from the ground up and that starts with changes at the top of the FIGC.”