Italian football has hit a historic low point this season. In European competition, no Italian side progressed beyond the quarter‑finals, and the only Serie A club to reach the Champions League round of 16 was Atalanta.
The club situation, however, pales in comparison with the national team’s recent woes. For the first time in modern history Italy failed to qualify for three consecutive World Cups—a shocking outcome for a nation that has lifted the trophy four times.
The first two qualification failures were somewhat softened by the euphoria of winning Euro 2020 at Wembley, a triumph that gave fans a brief glimmer of hope. The third miss, however, proved to be the final straw.
Italy’s absence from the expanded 48‑team tournament triggered a cascade of resignations: head coach Gennaro Gattuso stepped down, Italian FA president Gabriele Gravina quit, and legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon relinquished his role as team delegate. "It’s a painful subject for me because missing three World Cups in a row is a disaster, and Italy simply doesn’t deserve that," captain Gianluigi Donnarumma told Sky Sports. The response from the federation has been swift. Roberto Mancini, the mastermind behind the Euro 2020 victory, has been recalled to the helm.
"We have to work. The only way forward is to work," Donnarumma added. "With a new coach and the return of Mr Mancini, our aim is to rebuild and bring Italy back to the stature it deserves.
I know it’s not easy for the supporters, but for us, playing in a World Cup means everything. We will give everything to restore Italy to its rightful place.
History has taught us that Italy belongs at the top, and we must make that happen again." Indeed, Italy’s place among football’s elite is undeniable, yet the team has drifted far from that summit for years. The latest World Cup debacle is merely the most recent chapter in a long‑term decline that began after the 2006 triumph. Two decades later, that penalty‑shootout victory over France remains Italy’s last appearance in a World Cup knockout round, and the Azzurri have recorded only a single World Cup win since— a 2‑1 upset of England in Brazil 2014.
The 2012 European Championship run, which saw Italy reach the final, was a bright spot, but the subsequent years have been marked by a talent vacuum. The 2006 squad boasted world‑class figures such as Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso and Alessandro Del Piero. By 2012, the remnants of that generation were still present in the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Daniele De Rossi and Andrea Pirlo. Since the retirements of stalwarts Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, the pipeline of high‑calibre Italian players has thinned dramatically.
Data from the CIES Football Observatory underscores this trend: between 2020 and 2025 Italy exported just 413 players abroad, ranking 24th globally—behind nations such as the United States, Japan and Russia. By contrast, each of the other four major European leagues produced over a thousand exports in the same period. Italian talent, whether seasoned or emerging, is simply less sought after by Europe’s top clubs. The scarcity of elite prospects is reflected in the national team’s age profile.
From June 2025 to February 2026, only one capped player was under 24—Inter’s forward Pio Esposito—while England fielded a dozen youngsters in the same window. Moreover, in 2025 Italy allocated just 1.9 % of Serie A minutes to players under 21, the second‑lowest figure among the world’s top fifty leagues, outperformed only by the UAE Pro League. Serie A itself suffered from a lack of youthful dynamism.
High‑profile signings such as Kevin De Bruyne, Luka Modrić and Jamie Vardy were anomalies rather than the norm, and many clubs cycled through the same managerial pool—Antonio Conte, Massimiliano Allegri, Gattuso, Luciano Spalletti and Maurizio Sarri—without injecting fresh tactical ideas. Even this summer’s moves, with Sarri heading to Atalanta and Allegri to Juventus, illustrate the limited innovation. Occasional breakthroughs, however, hint at a possible shift.
Cesc Fàbregas’s transformation of Como into a Champions League qualifier and Ruben Amorim’s revitalising spell at AC Milan demonstrate how external concepts can spark change in Italian football. Mancini’s first squad back in charge also featured promising newcomers: a 34‑player list contained nine uncapped names and eleven players under 23. Among them were 18‑year‑old Borussia Dortmund striker Samuele Inácio, Crystal Palace defender Honest Ahanor (soon bound for Chelsea), and Brentford’s Michael Kayode. The roster also boasts Inter’s rising forward Pio Esposito—who has netted five goals in nine caps—FC Nürnberg’s prolific Ali Zoma (20 goals in 36 games in Germany’s second division), and Sporting CP midfielder Issa Doumbia.
These youngsters signal a budding generation of Italian talent. "There will be some established players, we’re getting older but still young, and we’ll also have very young players joining the team," Donnarumma explained. "It will be a mix, and we need to help these youngsters integrate well.
They can give us a great deal of help. They’re certainly talented and need experience, but I’m confident Italy will return to where it belongs." Italy now faces a daunting Nations League group alongside Belgium, Turkey and France in Group A.
Yet a nation that has lingered in obscurity for so long may only need a single spark to reignite its fortunes. For a deeper look at Italy’s challenges and a preview of Mancini’s second tenure, tune in to The World Football Show this Thursday at 2 p.m.
on Sky Sports News.