The president of the Italian Football Federation, Gabriele Gravina, resigned on Thursday following the men’s national team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time.
Gravina announced his decision after a meeting at the FIGC’s headquarters in Rome. His resignation came a day after Sport Minister Andrea Abodi called on him to step down.
Four-time World Cup winners Italy fell at the play-offs again on Tuesday, losing to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties. The team will miss this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
The latest humiliation for one of the world’s most successful football nations forced the 72-year-old Gravina to reverse his initial plan to wait until a FIGC board meeting next week before deciding his future.
The FIGC said in a statement that a vote for a new president would be held on June 22.
Head coach Gennaro Gattuso is expected to step down as well, while former Italy goalkeeper and current general manager Gianluigi Buffon also announced his resignation on Thursday.
Italy’s failure to reach the first-ever 48-team World Cup led Abodi to say, “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.”
Gravina was elected FIGC president in October 2018 after his predecessor stepped down following Italy’s first World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden in 2017. The highlight of Gravina’s reign was Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph, when the Azzurri beat England at Wembley.
However, two World Cup qualification failures and a poor defence of the European title left Gravina with little choice but to resign.
Adding to Italy’s football woes, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin warned on Thursday that Italy could be stripped of hosting rights for Euro 2032, which it is due to co-host with Turkey, due to poor stadium infrastructure.
