Behind the goal after the penalty shootout, the Bosnian Ultras performed a choreography showing off their American visas. Fanaticos is going to the World Cup. The Italian players who were watching them from the halfway line looked away and tried to comfort each other. They cried while everyone partyed around them.
“It’s a nightmare,” Leonardo Spinazzola said through tears. “I’ve been playing for the national team for nine years and I haven’t played in a World Cup yet. It’s terrible, for Italy and for us.”
None of his other teammates, including skipper Gigio Donnarumma, spoke. They were so confused and upset about the result and Clement Turpin’s refereeing. As fate would have it, the Frenchman also refereed the last World Cup play-off in 2022, when Italy lost against North Macedonia.
Gennaro Gattuso bit his lower lip when asked a question. It seemed like a coping mechanism in a crisis. He apologized to the 500 fans who came to visit Zenica and the millions of fans watching at home. “It hurts.” He said he needed time to come to his senses. The Calabrian expressed his gratitude for his firm belief that his players deserve better. “It’s been a few years since I’ve seen the national team play with that kind of heart,” Gattuso said. He had some regrets. First: Alessandro Bastoni received a red card before half-time. The second was Moise Kean missing a chance to make it 2-0 with 10 men.
Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso leaves the pitch after losing the World Cup qualifying playoff final between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
Moments like this are why Italy became the first former champions to miss out on three successive World Cups. These are moments that are often forgotten in the grander, more generalized narrative of the decline of Italian football. In 2017, for example, the players and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) failed to seize the moment. They should have followed their instincts and rallied between the first and second legs of the playoffs against Sweden to remove the unfit Gian Piero Ventura from his position as coach. In 2022, Jorginho’s missed penalties home and away against Switzerland were the difference between automatic qualification or not. That said, there was a fine margin and set of circumstances for each drawback.
On Tuesday night, Gattuso, Gattuso, FIFA president Gabriele Gravina and head of delegation Gigi Buffon sat down in Bilino Polje’s cramped press room. They knew they would face calls for their collective resignation. Buffon had a pained expression on his face. He scored against Sweden nine years ago when Jakob Johansson’s snap shot was deflected by Daniele De Rossi. The trauma of Italy’s failure to advance to the World Cup finals began at this point. Putting this right obviously means a lot to the proud Italian and the most capped player in his country’s history.
Buffon was the one who chose Gattuso last summer, despite his former team-mate spending a year in the Balkans with Hajduk Split. Despite the respect for Gattuso’s playing career, it did not give everyone confidence in his ability to succeed where others failed to get Italy to the World Cup.
“I’m glad to see that things are improving,” Buffon said, offering faint praise for his team. “But our main goal was to qualify for the World Cup.” Fortunately, he said, FIFAC will not be in a hurry to judge what to do next. “The season ends in June and until then I think it is right to carry out my duties to FIFAC and the president,” Buffon added.
No one resigned. This was a cause for consternation in Italy. Gravina, the FIFA president, did not step down after his side’s lackluster performances, including a loss to North Macedonia in 2022 or a 2-0 loss in the round of 16 to Switzerland at the 2024 Euros. As a common denominator, his critics fail to understand how Italy can break the vicious cycle while he is still at the helm.
Gravina did not spare praise for the players’ performance rather than focusing on the results. “Gattuso defined them as heroic,” he said. Italy played back to back against a Soviet-style tower block overlooking Bilino Polje for more than 90 minutes. They could have collapsed after Bastoni’s red card and Haris Tabakovic’s equalizer, but they went on to a penalty shoot-out and were hoping that Donnarumma, who has already made more than 10 saves, could perform at the level he did in the penalty shoot-out that decided the 2021 Euros.
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Bosnia and Herzegovina players and fans were in full celebration mode after beating Italy in a penalty shootout and confirming their second World Cup qualification.
Donnarumma spent much of the second half of extra time arguing with the fourth official for not sending off Tarik Muharemovic for a challenge on Marco Palestra on the edge of the box. There’s no telling how much different decisions would have changed the situation. Instead, all we know is that Pio Esposito stepped up to take Italy’s first penalty, which Brian Cristante missed from the spot. This is more about the fall of Italy. Gravina can be cited to support the claim that Italy are just a few kicks away from an epic qualifier in Bosnia.
“Gattuso is a great manager,” he said. “I asked him to leave him and Buffon behind.” For some people it’s patience, for others it’s dithering. Continuity is not a compelling answer right now, nor is it a “time of great crisis” as Gravina acknowledges.
As hostile as the atmosphere in Zenica was, Bosnian fans followed captain Edin Dzeko in applauding the Italian national anthem before kick-off. The reason Dzeko asked them to do so was because Italy were the first team to play in the capital Sarajevo since the Bosnian war 30 years ago. After the match, a Bosnian journalist asked Gattuso, who had been Italy’s friend since the 1996 friendly, why Italy could no longer participate in the World Cup. Gattuso said there are people better positioned to provide answers than he is. Again, it didn’t inspire confidence.
Italy have tried to reinvent themselves after being eliminated at the group stage in 2010 and 2014. Arrigo Sacchi was brought in to coach the next generation of coaches. More age groups were introduced. Government intervention through CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) led to a series of new proposals. For example, Serie A clubs were allowed to register B teams in the Italian third tier to bridge the gap between youth and men’s football.
These changes have paid off. Italy won the 2024 U-17 Euros after reaching the finals in 2013, 2018 and 2019. Francesco Camarda, who broke Paolo Maldini’s record as the youngest player to debut for Milan, was also part of that team. Michael Kayode won the final. Italy won the U-19 Euro in 2023 after advancing to the finals in 2016 and 2018. Inter star Esposito, who missed Italy’s opening spot-kick, was also part of that team.
So not everything goes wrong in Italy. While all the focus is on the Italian teams that have been knocked out of the Champions League, it was only last season that they started the league phase with five teams after topping the UEFA coefficient. The ownership structure is also much more sound than it was 10 years ago. Milan, Inter and many other clubs are under stable and well-capitalized management. Co-hosting Euro 2032 means the stadium is undergoing overhaul for the first time in almost half a century. The new San Siro has finally received approval. Artemio Franchi in Florence is being rebuilt. These are all signs of progress.
However, the national team’s struggles in World Cup qualifying have recently put everything in their way, including winning the 2021 Euros. Nine years ago, when Italy failed to advance to the World Cup finals, Gravina’s predecessor, Carlo Tavecchio, called it the end. Apocalypse Now isn’t inherently expected to have a sequel. Apocalypse Now was a standalone film. Unlike The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola did not make it into a trilogy. He left it to FIFAC. And as the trilogy goes, this is a tragedy for football.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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