play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upSport|Football‘The World Cup curse’: Outcry as Italy miss out for third time in a rowItaly’s sport minister says football federation boss should step down after national team fails to qualify for third consecutive World Cup.
twitterwhatsappcopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoItaly fans react while watching the World Cup 2026 European qualification playoff in a pub in central Rome, on March 31, 2026 [Tiziana Fabi/AFP]By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and ReutersPublished On 1 Apr 20261 Apr 2026Italy woke up angry and disillusioned on Wednesday after the national team missed out on the FIFA World Cup for the third time in a row by losing a playoff to Bosnia and Herzegovina, prolonging a sporting nightmare for the football-mad country.
“The World Cup curse,” said the front page of Italy’s main daily Corriere della Sera, calling for rebuilding in a country that has produced some of the game’s greatest players but has won only one match at the finals since lifting the trophy for the fourth time in 2006.
Headlines in La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, the country’s two main sports newspapers, said “We’re all staying at home”, in reference to another summer without a World Cup.
Fans in Rome were left stunned after Italy suffered a 4-1 penalty shootout loss to Bosnia on Tuesday following a 1-1 draw, their third playoff defeat in a row after they lost to Sweden and North Macedonia.
Italy went down to 10 men in the 42nd minute as Alessandro Bastoni was punished for a late last-man tackle, a key turning point in the match, with Italy leading at the time.
“Everything went badly from the start of the match. The team wasn’t good, players out of form coming in and playing [anyway] … it makes no sense. Honestly, I’m shocked,” Davide Caldaretta, who watched the game at a pub in Rome, told the Reuters news agency.
Melanie Cardillo told Reuters that she was “really upset and disappointed”.
She added, “Even when you’re let down, you always hold out hope. And this is the third time in a row.”
The Azzurri last qualified for the World Cup finals in 2014, when Bosnia made their only previous appearance at the tournament.
The Balkan team will play in Group B this year with cohosts Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
The defeat triggered outrage across the country, with Italy’s Sport Minister Andrea Abodi calling on Italian Football Federation (FIGC) President Gabriele Gravina to quit.
“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,” Abodi said in a statement.
Gravina said he would not resign, but a board meeting next week would decide whether he will keep his position.
Abodi’s comments came amid hostilities between the Italian government and Gravina, who, speaking to the media after Italy’s defeat, lashed out at a perceived lack of support for football from the state.
Gravina also referred to other sports as “amateur” and “state sports” compared with football due to the large number of athletes, particularly Olympians, who are nominally employed by Italy’s armed forces and police.
Italy claimed a record 30 medals at the recent Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, including 10 gold, and left the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with 40 medals.
The Mediterranean nation also has top performers in a wide variety of other sports, with tennis star Jannik Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam winner, the most obvious example.
“I believe it is a mistake to deny responsibility for the third missed World Cup qualification and accuse the institutions of a presumed failure while downplaying the importance and professionalism of other sports,” added Abodi, who has been sport minister in Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government since 2022.
Speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida, who won two Olympic gold medals this past winter, was one of several athletes to react to Gravina’s comments, sarcastically saying on Instagram, “I’m an amateur.”
Meanwhile, former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said Italy’s elimination was “unfortunately” not an April Fool’s joke.
“It’s a sign that Italian football has failed,” he said. “Football isn’t just entertainment in our country; it’s part of our culture and national identity.”
