Gennaro Gattuso quit as Italy coach on Friday as the Azzurri failing to reach a third straight World Cup continued to send shockwaves through Italian football.
A World Cup winner in 2006, Gattuso leaves after less than a year in charge of Italy, a team which has fallen far behind historic rivals like France and Spain in the last two decades.
Defeat on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tuesday’s qualification play-off final ended up costing Gattuso his job, as the man who hired him also stepped down as president of the Italian Football Federation.
Gabriele Gravina had asked Gattuso to stay on immediately after elimination in Zenica but his departure, and that of national team general manager Gianluigi Buffon, paved the way for the 48-year-old to resign.
Gattuso took charge of Italy in June last year following the sacking of Luciano Spalletti, himself a victim of a dismal title defense at Euro 2024 and a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Erling Haaland’s Norway in their first World Cup qualifier.
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His record is impressive on paper, with six wins, one defeat and one draw in eight matches with 22 goals scored and 10 conceded.
But that draw was the 1-1 with Bosnia which preceded a penalty shoot-out in which Italy missed twice, while the loss was another humiliating one to Norway, this time 4-1 at the San Siro.
Gattuso was considered by many a strange choice to replace Spalletti due to his spotty club coaching record, and he was heavily criticized after Tuesday’s elimination.
Former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who was working closely with the national side, also resigned as delegation head via Instagram.
Italy are four-time World Cup champions but last featured at the tournament in 2014.
No previous winner of the tournament has missed three World Cups in a row, which Italy now have after missing out on Russia in 2018 and Qatar 2022.
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