The head of Italian Football Federation (FIGC) resigned on Thursday, falling on his sword after the men's national team failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time.
Gabriele Gravina revealed he would step down as the country's top football official following a meeting held at the FIGC's headquarters in Rome on Thursday.
His announcement came a day after Sport Minister Andrea Abodi called on him to resign.
Four-time World Cup winners Italy fell at the playoffs again on Tuesday, this time after a penalty shootout against Bosnia-Herzegovina, and will miss this summer's finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The shock waves of the latest humiliation for one of the world's most successful football nations forced Gravina, 72, to go back on his initial plans to wait until a FIGC board meeting next week to announce a decision on his future.
The FIGC said in a statement that a vote for a new president would be held on June 22.
Giovanni Malago, the former long-time head of the Italian Olympic Committee who was president of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics organization committee, is reportedly one of the names in the hat.
Before then, head coach Gennaro Gattuso is expected to also step down, while general manager Gianluigi Buffon, the former Italy goalkeeper, announced his resignation on Thursday.
Italy's failure to reach the first-ever 48-team World Cup – which will feature the likes of Cape Verde and Curacao – led Abodi to release a statement saying: "It's clear that Italian football needs to be rebuilt from the ground up and that starts with changes at the top of the FIGC."
That came a day after Gravina had hit out at politicians "who have only pushed for resignations," while also admitting Italian football "is in a profound crisis."
Gravina was elected FIGC president in October 2018, becoming the permanent replacement for Carlo Tavecchio, who stepped down following Italy's first World Cup playoff defeat to Sweden the previous year.
He was reelected in February 2021, and again in February 2025 with his mandate was due to end in 2028.
The highlight of his reign was Italy's thrilling triumph at Euro 2020, when an Azzurri team under Roberto Mancini, which went unbeaten for 37 matches, beat England at Wembley to be crowned kings of the continent for the second time.
But two World Cup qualification failures and a dismal defense of the European title left Gravina with little choice but to resign as Italy's football woes deepen.
And those do not just relate to diminishing performances by the national team and Serie A clubs – none of whom have won the Champions League since 2010.
Buffon, part of the 2006 World Cup-winning side, wrote on Instagram that he had initially offered his resignation immediately after the loss to Bosnia, but had been asked to take time to reflect.
"Now that president Gravina has chosen to take a step back, I feel free to do what I feel is an act of responsibility," he wrote.
"Because, even in the sincere conviction that I have built so much on a spirit and group level with Rino Gattuso and all the collaborators, in a very short time at the disposal of the national team, the main objective was to bring Italy back to the World Cup.
"We didn't succeed. It's fair to leave it to those who will come after, the freedom to choose the figure they think is best to play my role."
Gattuso's contract was due to end in June. Media reports have linked Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri as possible replacements.
Italy are due to co-host Euro 2032 with Türkiye but on Thursday, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin hit out at the state of Italy's stadiums, warning the country could be stripped of hosting rights.
"I just hope that the infrastructure (in Italy) will be ready. If that's not the case, the tournament will not be held in Italy," Ceferin said in an interview with the Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Italy's football malaise contrasts sharply with its success in other sports.
Italy claimed a record 30 medals at the recent Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, including 10 golds, and left the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with 40 medals.
The Mediterranean nation also has top performers in a wide variety of other sports, such as tennis star Jannik Sinner, a four-time Grand Slam winner.
Gravina had also come in for heavy criticism for comments he made after the Bosnia defeat, when asked why Italy excelled in other disciplines but not in football.
In his response, Gravina said that football is a professional sport, while referring to other sports as "amateur" and "state sports" due to the large number of athletes, particularly Olympians, who are nominally employed by different branches of Italy's armed forces and police.
That caused outrage, with many Italian athletes taking to social media.
Irma Testa, the first female boxer to represent Italy at the Olympics and bronze medallist in 2020, wrote on Instagram that "we are the real professionals" and the FIGC statement on Thursday said that Gravina expressed regret over the interpretation of his remarks.
Gravina explained that his comments referred to the presence within some federations of leagues with their own autonomy and the corporate nature of professional clubs, which must comply with national and international legislation.
