The image of Fabio Cannavaro lifting the 2006 World Cup trophy encapsulated an Italy at its peak, world champion and owner of the best player on the planet, winner of FIFA awards and the Ballon d’Or from France Football magazine, after defeating France in a penalty shootout.
Captain of the latest version that deserves the nickname “squadra azzurra”, as Italian newspapers like to refer to the national team, the player at the time at Juventus —signed by Real Madrid shortly after the World Cup— symbolized the Italian identity, with organized defense, tactical application and controlled play.
Two decades later, Italy is almost unrecognizable today. This Wednesday (25), the team led by coach Gennaro Gattuso, former Milan player and world champion alongside Cannavaro, fights to avoid prolonging an agony that, without the Italians knowing, began in 2014, in the country’s last appearance in a World Cup.
Absent from the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Italy is once again in the playoffs trying to avoid the fiasco of failing to qualify for the expanded 2026 World Cup, now with 48 teams.
The first challenge is to pass through Northern Ireland, starting at 4:45 pm (Brasília time), at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia stadium, in Bergamo. Whoever passes will face on the 31st the winner of the clash between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which takes place at the Cardiff City Stadium, in Cardiff, the Welsh capital. Only one of them goes to the World Cup.
In 2018, Italy fell in the playoff against Sweden. Then, in 2022, it was surprised by North Macedonia.
For those who lived closely at the height of Italian football, recent failures are not the result of chance, but the result of structural changes that redesigned European football, especially the Italian Championship, with direct consequences for the country’s national team.
Champion of the former UEFA Cup (currently the Europa League) in the 1997/98 season with Inter Milan, Zé Elias sees this transformation as one of the main factors in the decline in prominence of the Italian elite.
According to him, in the past, there was a stricter limit on foreign athletes, which forced Italians to perform at a high level and formed a solid base in the clubs. “All the clubs had a strong base. Then, four, five foreigners at most came in, who raised the level even further”, he told Sheet.
From 1995 onwards, this scenario changed. The opening to foreigners expanded — especially after the Bosman Case, which allowed the free movement of players from the European Union — and changed the profile of the league. “There was a time when Inter were champions without having an Italian on the field. This directly impacts the formation”, said the former midfielder, currently a commentator for ESPN channels.
For the former player, the smaller presence of local players reduces development at the base and explains the absence of big names trained “at home” in Italian football.
If the last world champion Italy, 20 years ago, had Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus as the basis of its squad, it will be more difficult to replicate this now precisely due to the clubs’ profile.
According to data from the Ogol website, which specializes in statistical data on world football, the current squads of Italy’s three main teams are mostly made up of foreigners.
With 33 players in their group, Juventus has 13 Italians (39.4%). At Milan, the presence is even smaller, with nine Italians (30%) of a total of 30 players. With more options in its squad, Inter Milan is the club that comes closest to a balance, but still with a greater foreign presence. There are 17 athletes from Italy (43.6%) and 22 from abroad.
For Zé Elias, this affects the identity of the Italian team. “You no longer have that clear identity. Italian players go to other leagues, absorb other styles, and this is reflected in the national team,” he said.
“Today you can still see identity in Spain, a little in France. In Italy it is more difficult. The team remains tactically competitive, does what the coach asks, but lacks quality, personality in big games”, he adds.
Regaining this identity was the mission that Gattuso took on in May 2025, when he was hired to replace Luciano Spalleti, fired after a 3-0 defeat to Norway.
With just over 12 years of career as a coach, but already with stints on the bench for teams such as Milan, Napoli and Valencia, the 48-year-old coach sees this Thursday’s game, against Northern Ireland, as the biggest challenge he has ever faced.
“I’m still young as a coach, but I have a lot to fight for. This is the most important game of my career. I feel like I have a country on my shoulders,” he said.
