Fallout from Bosnia defeat was the first thing on the parliamentary agenda Wednesday morning.
The country of Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Baggio and Andrea Pirlo suffered a football tragedy on Tuesday night — and its politicians are incandescent with rage.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party requested an official briefing in parliament on Wednesday from Sports Minister Andrea Abodi after the country’s men’s national football team failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the third consecutive time.
MPs from the right-wing governing coalition have also called for national football federation President Gabriele Gravina to step down.
Galeazzo Bignami, the leader in the chamber of deputies of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, wrote on X that Gravina “must simply resign,” adding that, “Italian football needs to be overhauled, and his resignation is essential.”
Four-time world champions Italy lost a playoff match on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday night.
Its most recent appearance at the World Cup was in 2014, when the team didn’t make it out of the group phase; then it failed to qualify for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. The last time the Azzurri actually won a knockout match on football’s biggest stage was before the first iPhone was released.
Brothers of Italy MP Salvatore Caiata added during Wednesday’s parliamentary session that Gravina “stole a dream from our young people,” by allowing a crisis in Italy’s favorite pastime to unfold over the past three years.
But not all lawmakers were in tune with the resignation demand.
“You can ask for Gravina’s head, but don’t dodge the responsibilities you have,” Green-Left Alliance MP Marco Grimaldi hit back, implying the government’s lack of action on sports initiatives is one of the main contributing factors to Italian football’s current dire state.
The Democratic Party’s Mauro Berruto agreed, claiming the government should focus on investigating “the reasons that brought about the abyss in Italian football.”
The item was the first thing on the parliamentary agenda Wednesday morning.