ROME, Italy: Gabriele Gravina has resigned as president of Italy’s football federation FIGC in the wake of the national team failing to qualify for the World Cup for a third straight time, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
A FIGC statement on Thursday said that Gravina announced his decision at a top-level meeting and called for the election of a new president on June 22. He had held the job since 2018.
Italy lost 4-1 on penalties in a play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday to miss the June 11-July 19 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Four-time winners Italy last played at the global event in 2014, going out in the group stage. They failed to qualify in 2018 and 2022.
It also remains unclear whether coach Gennaro Gattuso will stay on. The 2006 World Cup winner was supported by Gravina to continue after the match in Zenica.
Gravina was called to resign by the media and also by Sports Minister Andrea Abodi who urged a complete overhaul of football structures in the country, starting with the FIGC leadership.
Thursday’s FIGC statement said that Gravina was willing to appear next week before a parliamentary committee to “report on the state of Italian football”. – BERNAMA-dpa
