Tue | Mar 31, 2026

Italy is out again. 4-time champion misses 3rd straight World Cup with shoot-out loss in Bosnia

Published:Tuesday | March 31, 2026 | 6:31 PM
Italy players react during a penalty shoot-out during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Armin Durgut
Italy players react during a penalty shoot-out during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

One of football’s historic powers has reached a once-unfathomable low. Four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for a third straight World Cup after getting beat in a penalty shoot-out with 10 men at 66th-ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European playoffs on Tuesday.

Moise Kean scored early on for Italy but then Azzurri centre back Alessandro Bastoni was sent off with a direct red card before the break and Bosnia substitute Haris Tabakovic equalized in the 79th to send the game into extra time at 1-1.

The defeat added more misery for Italy’s once-proud national team after being eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in the qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups.

“It’s too easy to say what’s working and what’s not working,” Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso said.

“The fact is that Italy has failed to qualify for three World Cups. We’re having a tough time achieving our goals, both with the national team and with our clubs.”

“We still don’t believe it — that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy defender Leonardo Spinazzola said.

“It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families, and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”

In Tuesday’s other European playoff finals, Sweden, Turkey and the Czech Republic each qualified. Sweden beat Poland 3-2; Turkey beat Kosovo 1-0; and the Czechs beat Denmark in a shoot-out.

Italy’s latest ouster means that the 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 champions will go at least 16 years without even playing a match at soccer’s biggest event.

Italy’s World Cup struggles go back all the way to 2010 and 2014, having failed to advance from its group on both occasions. Although the Azzurri did win the European Championship in 2021.

Italy’s last World Cup knockout match was when it won the title in 2006 by beating France in a penalty shoot-out.

“We realize we’re in a huge crisis,” Italian soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina said.

The only other World Cup that Italy did not qualify for was in 1958.

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