Italy’s football leadership has urged Gennaro Gattuso to remain as head coach despite the national team’s failure to qualify for a third consecutive FIFA World Cup.
The Azzurri were eliminated after a 4-1 penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina following a 1-1 draw in Zenica, a result that confirms a historic low for the former world champions.
Speaking immediately after the match, Gabriele Gravina, president of the Italian Football Federation, said he had asked both Gattuso and Gianluigi Buffon to continue in their roles.
“I’ve asked him to stay and asked Buffon to stay in charge of the football side,” Gravina told reporters.
Buffon, who currently oversees the senior and youth national teams within the federation, said he would wait until the end of the season in June before deciding on his future.
Gattuso, visibly emotional after the defeat, played down discussions about his position, focusing instead on the disappointment of missing out on the tournament.
“It’s really painful. I would have given anything today, I would have given up years of my life, money, for us to achieve our goal,” he said.
A World Cup winner as a player in 2006, Gattuso took over as head coach in June last year, replacing Luciano Spalletti. His contract runs through the current World Cup cycle.
Gravina acknowledged that Italian football is facing a deep crisis and said broader reflection is needed across both football authorities and political stakeholders. He also confirmed that his own position will be discussed at a federation board meeting next week.
Italy’s latest failure marks an unprecedented moment in its football history, becoming the first World Cup winning nation to miss three consecutive editions of the tournament.
