(Photo credit: REUTERS/Matteo Ciambelli)

Italian national team coach Gennaro Gattuso stepped down Friday following the country's latest failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

The four-time World Cup champions will miss their third consecutive tournament this summer in North America following Tuesday's shocking loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the UEFA playoffs. Italy, which was last part of the field in 2014, will now go at least 16 years between World Cup appearances.

Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina and head of delegation Gianluigi Buffon both resigned on Wednesday.

'With a heavy heart, and having failed to achieve the goal we had set ourselves, I consider my experience on the National Team bench to be over,' said Gattuso, 48. 'The Azzurri shirt is the most precious thing in football, and for this reason it is right to facilitate future technical decisions immediately.

'I would like to thank President Gabriele Gravina and Gianluigi Buffon, as well as all the Federation staff, for the trust and support they have always given me. It has been an honor to lead the National Team, and to do so with a group of players who have shown commitment and a strong attachment to the shirt. But my biggest thanks go to the fans, to all Italians who over these months have never failed to show their love and support for the National Team. Always with blue in my heart.'

Gattuso, who played on Italy's most recent World Cup championship squad in 2006, took over the national team in the summer of 2025 to replace Luciano Spalletti.

Having also missed the tournaments in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, Italy is the first former champion to miss three straight World Cups.

--Field Level Media