"We didn't succeed. It's fair to leave it to those who will come after." That's Gianluigi Buffon, signing off from his role as Italy's national team delegation head via Instagram — and it's a more honest summary of Italian football's state right now than anything the federation has managed to produce in years.
FIGC president Gabriele Gravina resigned on Thursday, two days after Italy lost on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a World Cup qualifying playoff. Three consecutive World Cups missed. The last time Italy actually played at a finals was 2014, and in the decade since lifting the trophy in 2006, they've won exactly one match at the tournament. The decline isn't a blip. It's structural.
Gravina had been in charge since 2018, elected unopposed after his predecessor Carlo Tavecchio walked the same plank following the 2018 qualification failure. He survived the embarrassment of 2022, was re-elected as recently as February 2025, and had his mandate set to run until 2028. None of that mattered once Bosnia knocked them out on Tuesday. Italy's Sports Minister Andrea Abodi called it a "definitive defeat" and said the game needs to be "rebuilt from the ground up."
Gravina's exit, and the comments that made it messier
The resignation might have been cleaner if Gravina hadn't made things worse in the immediate aftermath of the Bosnia loss. Asked why Italy performs in other sports but not football, he suggested it was because football is professional while the others are amateur. The backlash was immediate. Olympic bronze medallist boxer Irma Testa — Italy's first female Olympic boxer — posted "we are the real professionals" on Instagram. Several other athletes followed.
Gravina later claimed his comments were about the structural differences between federations and professional leagues, not a slight on athletes. The clarification came in Thursday's FIGC statement. By then, it barely mattered — he was already on his way out.
"After many years there is a feeling of great bitterness, but great serenity," he told reporters. Whether that serenity is earned or performed is a matter of opinion. What isn't is that he leaves Italian football in a worse competitive position than he found it, Euro 2020 trophy notwithstanding.
What comes next — and who gets to decide
An extraordinary FIGC assembly is scheduled for June 22 to elect a new president. Names already in circulation include Giovanni Malago, the 67-year-old former head of Italy's Olympic Committee, and Giancarlo Abete, 75, who held the FIGC role from 2007 to 2014. Neither profile exactly screams radical overhaul.
Gennaro Gattuso's position as manager is now openly under question. His contract expires in June, and reports have already linked both Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri as potential replacements. Whoever takes the presidency will almost certainly want their own choice in the dugout — which makes Gattuso's situation fairly straightforward to read, even without a formal announcement.
- Gabriele Gravina resigned as FIGC president on Thursday
- Gianluigi Buffon stepped down as national team delegation head
- A new FIGC president will be elected on June 22
- Gattuso's contract expires in June; Conte and Allegri are linked as replacements
- Italy have not qualified for the World Cup since 2014
Buffon, part of the side that won the 2006 World Cup, had initially offered his resignation immediately after the Bosnia defeat before being asked to reflect. Once Gravina made his decision, Buffon followed. "Now that president Gravina has chosen to take a step back, I feel free to do what I feel is an act of responsibility," he wrote. It's a dignified exit — but it doesn't change the fact that Italy's new leadership will inherit a national team that has now failed to reach two consecutive World Cups under two different coaches during Gravina's tenure.
Italy haven't just missed a tournament. They've missed a generation.
