Italian football is back at the beginning. A nation famous for the tactical philosophies it gave the world is now collapsing in the middle third consecutive failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. The Italians went through a dramatic slump that few could have predicted. The team that was world champion in 2006 has, 20 years later, become an inconsistent force in European football.
Much of this decline is believed to have stemmed from the Calciopoli scandal that rocked Italy. The scandal severely damaged Serie A’s reputation, causing an approximately 17% drop in revenue during the 2006–07 season and leading to an exodus of top talent from the league.
WHERE DID IT ALL START?
According to an article published by Deloitte entitled Annual Review of Football Finance, the total European football market grew to €13.6 billion in 2006–07, an increase of €1 billion from the previous year.
“This is despite a €236 million reduction in Italian Serie A revenue in 2006-07, primarily due to Juventus’ relegation to Serie B,” the report said.
Subsequently, corruption and unstable financial models became more widespread, leading to prestigious Italian clubs such as AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli struggling to achieve sustained European or even domestic dominance.
The Italian club last triumphed on Europe’s biggest stage, the UEFA Champions League, in 2010 when Inter beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in Madrid. This Inter team did not feature a single Italian in the starting eleven. In fact, the only Italian to appear in this final was Marco Materazzi, who came on in the last minute of regulation time. AC Milan had seven Italian players in their 2007 Champions League triumph. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez (GREECE)
Conversely, the AC Milan team that lifted the same trophy in 2007 after defeating Liverpool 2-1 in Athens had seven Italians in their starting line-up.
Such was the decline of Italian football. However, this does not mean that the country has merely watched its footballing identity disappear. The four-time world champions attempted a rebuild and briefly found success with their triumph at UEFA Euro 2020. Yet that success proved to be an exception rather than a sustained revival.
THE REVIVAL PLAN
Back in 2010, former Ballon d’Or winner and 1994 World Cup finalist Roberto Baggio took on the role of Technical Director at the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). Baggio presented a 900-page report proposing a complete overhaul of Italian football, from grassroots development to coaching reforms and modernized scouting systems.
However, despite the ambition of his vision, Baggio resigned in 2013, citing a lack of support from those in power.
“I presented my project in December 2011, 900 pages, but it remained just empty words,” he told Italian television in 2013 after resigning. “I don’t like just sitting in a chair doing nothing, so I reluctantly decided to leave.
Fast forward to 2026, only two Italian clubs remain in European competitions, with Bologna and Fiorentina featuring in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League. Meanwhile, Italy’s national football team was beaten on penalties by Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final 2026 World Cup qualifying play-off, leading to calls for complete renovation by Italian Minister of Sports Andrea Abodi.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
Currently, FIGC president Gabriele Gravina has resigned from his post in Italian football, leading to calls for Gennaro Gattuso, the acting head coach of Italian football, will step down from his position also.
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“Today I have absolutely no interest in talking about my future,” the 48-year-old former AC Milan coach said immediately after the 4-1 penalty shootout defeat in the play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We should be talking here about Italy, about the blue jersey, about the fact that it’s another loser, even though we didn’t deserve it this time.
Italy may be putting together new candidates to take over the role. However, it is highly unlikely that there will be any long-term impact on her unless the association ends its old ways. The signs of decline were never sudden but gradual, shaped by years of missed reforms, financial instability and structural inertia. Italy’s fall from the pinnacle of world football is not just a story of games lost, but also a story of opportunities ignored, warnings unheeded and a system that failed to evolve with the modern game.
– The end
Published on:
03 Apr 2026 15:42 IST
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