The resignation had been clamored for, and it finally came. Gabriele Gravina is no longer the president of the Italian Football Federation. Only two days have passed since yet another defeat for the Italian national soccer team, which for the third consecutive time failed to qualify for the World Cup. A noisy defeat, the one that took place in Bosnia against the hosts, after the inauspicious penalty kicks, which fueled yet another trial of Italian soccer, guilty of having no planning and of failing to qualify for a World Cup for 12 years now. The main “culprit” of this debacle, according to the protagonists of the soccer world, politics and public opinion, was Gabriele Gravina, president of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio since 2018, who in office experienced the 2021 European Championship victory under coach Roberto Mancini, but also two excellent exclusions at the World Cup, namely the one in 2022 against Macedonia and the one, precisely, on Tuesday against Bosnia.
The president had initially called for reflection, not resigning in the immediate aftermath of the match, as explained in the press conference immediately after the defeat in Bosnia. But he had announced an extraordinary meeting in the federation for today, Thursday, April 2, 2026. In the presence of the presidents of Lega Serie A Simonelli, Serie B Bedin, Serie C Marani and Lega Nazionale Dilettanti Abete, and the heads of the Footballers’ Association Calcagno and the Coaches’ Association Ulivieri, Gravina announced his resignation minutes after the assembly began, ANSA reports. An act for many due, but one that hopefully will open the way for real change, capable of reversing the course of a system in free fall. Elections for new offices will be called for June 22, the news agency further reports. That will be the day to find out who will be the person who will hopefully lead Italian soccer out of the swamps.
In a statement, the Federation confirmed the meeting and the resignation tendered. During the meeting, it goes on to read, “Gravina thanked the components for renewing, in public and private form, the closeness and support for his person and informed the presidents that he had willingly made himself available to speak at a hearing next April 8 (11 a.m.) in the VII Commission for Culture, Science and Education of the Chamber of Deputies to report on the state of health of Italian soccer.” There he will present “a report on the strengths and weaknesses of the movement, also touching on some of the issues already addressed in the press conference held after the national team’s match played in Zenica last Tuesday, March 31.”
In the statement, moreover, Gravina wanted to express his regret for “the interpretation of his words on the difference between amateur and professional sports, which were in no way meant to be offensive to any sports discipline, but rather were a reference to the different internal (e.g., the presence in the governance of some Federations of Leagues with their relative autonomies) and external (with express reference to the corporate nature of professional football clubs that must be subject to different national and international legislation than amateur clubs) rules and regulations.”
[📸 IPA]
