Miotto’s Musings: Italy’s World Cup Disappointments Speak to Broader Issues in Italian Football

ZENICA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - MARCH 31: Francesco Pio Esposito of Italy shows reacts during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Bosnia & Herzegovina and Italy at Stadion Bilino Polje on March 31, 2026 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images) | Getty Images Italy’s absence from the 2026 World Cup has me feeling depressed. Not because the Azzurri deserve to be there (they don’t), but because it is a confirmation of just how far one of world football’s giants has fallen.

Three straight failures to qualify have now pushed the Azzurri into territory no former champion has ever occupied. The shock of Italy missing the World Cup is officially old hat. Something has to change.

The first step in solving a problem is acknowledging the problem. Patterns like three straight World Cup misses don’t happen by accident. This isn’t about one playoff loss or one bad international window, and Italy didn’t stumble into this.

The Azzurri have been trending to this point for years, building toward exactly this kind of failure through a series of decisions that, taken individually, looked defensible and, taken together, look deeply flawed. At the center of this issue is an idea that I’ve been harping on since I started writing for Chiesa di Totti: from the national team down to the smallest clubs on the peninsula, Italian football does not trust young players enough. To be clear, that doesn’t mean nothing has changed.