Italian National Team Crisis: 3 Coaches, 3 Consecutive World Cup Qualification Failures

Italy's latest failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup extends the crisis for Gli Azzurri, placing three different coaches within the same thread of failure. Sweden, North Macedonia, and most recently Bosnia-Herzegovina have buried Italy's hopes on the World Football stage. 

Italy's national team coach, Gennaro Gattuso, had to swallow a bitter pill after failing to guide his team to the final round of the 2026 World Cup. 

Italy succumbed to Bosnia 1-4 via a dramatic penalty shootout in the UEFA zone play-off final at Bilino Polje Stadium, Zenica, early Wednesday morning WIB, April 1, 2026. Penalties decided the match after both teams drew 1-1 over 120 minutes. 

Gattuso only took over the coaching reins from Luciano Spalletti in June 2025. He was appointed to fix the team's mentality following a defeat to Norway, but that mission ended bitterly in Zenica.

The loss to Bosnia adds to Italy's dismal record, failing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup for the third consecutive time. A statistic hard to imagine for a nation with four world titles.

Before Gattuso, the first failure began in the Gian Piero Ventura era. Italy has been absent since the 2018 World Cup after Ventura failed to secure qualification.

Ventura was sacked after Italy lost 0-1 on aggregate to Sweden in the play-offs. This moment marked the beginning of the dark period for modern Italian football.

The baton was briefly held by interim coach Luigi Di Biagio before the federation appointed Roberto Mancini in May 2018. Mancini's task was not easy: rebuilding the team from scratch.

Under Mancini, Italy experienced a resurgence, reaching the pinnacle by winning Euro 2020. However, that revival did not extend to the global stage. 

Italy failed again to reach the 2022 World Cup after losing 0-1 to North Macedonia in the semifinal of the 2022 UEFA zone World Cup qualifiers play-offs in Palermo, March 2022.

Now, with the failure under Gattuso, Italy records an absence from three consecutive World Cup editions: 2018, 2022, and 2026. A profound irony for one of World Football's traditional powers.

From Ventura, Mancini, to Gattuso, the same Story keeps repeating: stumbling at the most decisive phase. To this day, a big question still hangs: when will the Azzurri truly rise again?