Italian Football President, Gabriele Gravina
Italian football has hit another low, and this time it has cost a top official his seat.
Gabriele Gravina has stepped down as president of the Italian Football Federation after Italy failed to qualify for the next FIFA World Cup.
The decision follows fresh criticism after the national team fell short again in the qualifiers, stretching a run that is now becoming difficult to explain away.
For a country like Italy, this one cuts deep.
The Italy national football team have now missed three World Cups in a row. That is not something you expect at this level.
Their last appearance was back in 2014 in Brazil, and even that ended early with a group stage exit. Since then, it has been miss after miss, 2018, 2022, and now 2026.
To be clear, the 2018 failure came before Gravina took charge.
But the last two, 2022 and 2026, happened on his watch, and that is where the pressure really built.
What makes it all harder to take is the history. Italy are four time world champions.
The last of those came in 2006, when they beat France in the final. That night in Berlin now feels like a different era entirely.
There is also that contrast. Not long ago, in 2021, Italy were on top of Europe after winning UEFA Euro 2020. It looked like a team finding its way again. But when it came to World Cup qualification, things just never clicked.
In the end, this does not come as a shock. Results have not been good enough, and in football, that usually leads somewhere.
The focus now shifts to what comes next, and whether Italy can finally stop the slide and find their way back to the World Cup stage.
