He was on an ejection seat, now he is floating in the air waiting to open his golden parachute. Gabriele Gravina, the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), submitted his resignation on Thursday, two days after Italy’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup following its defeat on penalties against Bosnia in the play-off final.
“Mr. Gravina informed the members of the federal council that he had presented his resignation from the mandate entrusted to him in February 2025 and that he had convened an extraordinary elective assembly on June 22 in Rome,” the FIGC said in a press release.
A second failure that leaves a mark
Gravina, 72, had been at the helm of the FIGC since October 2018 and began his third term in February 2025. He is also first vice-president of UEFA and close to the president of the European body, Aleksander Ceferin. Under his leadership, Italy won Euro 2021 (although we still don’t really know how), but it failed to qualify for two World Cups (2022, 2026) and was eliminated from the last Euro, in 2024, in the round of 16.
This former business manager and ex-president of a small Abruzzo club which briefly played in Serie B, was under pressure since Italy’s defeat on Tuesday in the European play-off final against Bosnia Herzegovina (1-1 ap, 4 tab to 1).
Initially, to anticipate calls for his resignation, he had convened a federal council to “take stock and evaluate” his action at the head of the Italian Federation. But Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi requested his departure the day after what the Italian press described as the “third apocalypse” of Italian football. “Italian football must be refounded and this process must go through a renewal within the management of the FIGC,” said Mr. Abodi.
Gattuso should take the same path
Gravina took control of the powerful FIGC following the resignation of Carlo Tavecchio, after the failure of Italy, beaten by Sweden in the play-offs, to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Tavecchio himself succeeded Giancarlo Abete, in office since 2007, who left office after the elimination of the Nazionale in the group stage of the Brazilian World Cup in 2014.
The name of Giovanni Malago, former president of the Italian Olympic Committee and the organizing committee of the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan Cortina, is the most cited to take the direction of Italian football in crisis. By June 22, the coach of the Nazionale Gennaro Gattuso, appointed in June 2025, should in turn resign according to the Italian press, as will the general manager of the selection, the former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
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