Nidal Saljic / EPA
Kerim Alajbegovic celebrates Bosnia and Herzegovina’s progress in the play-off game against Italy
The unthinkable happened (again). The country that gave football geniuses like Del Piero, Baggio, Pirlo or Tiotti suffered a football tragedy on Tuesday night — and its politicians are boiling with anger.
The Brothers of Italy, party of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melonithis Wednesday requested an official session in parliament, after the country’s men’s national football team had failed for the 3rd time in a row qualifying for the football World Cup.
The Minister of Sports, Andrea Abodicalled for the resignation of the president of the Italian football federation, Gabriele Gravinaan idea that received support from deputies from the right-wing government coalition, says .
“AND It’s obvious that Italian football needs to be relaunched and that this process must begin with a change of leadership in the national football federation”, said the minister, according to several reports in the Italian press.
Galeazzo Bignamithe leader in the chamber of deputies of the Brothers of Italy, in the X that Gravina “you should just resign“, adding that “Italian football needs to be reformulatedand his resignation is essential.”
Italy, four-time world championlost the second game of the World Cup qualifying play-off on Tuesday night, on penalties, after a 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The most recent presence of azzurri in the World Cup was in 2014, the year in which the team failed to progress past the group stage; he later missed qualifying for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
The last time the Italians won a knockout game on football’s biggest stage was before the launch of the first iPhone.
Salvatore Caiata, deputy of the Brothers of Italy, added during this Wednesday’s parliamentary session that Gravina “stole a dream to our young people”, by allowing athe crisis in Italy’s favorite pastime unfolded over the last three years.
But not all lawmakers are aligned with the resignation, Politico notes.
“You can ask for Gravina’s head, but do not escape responsibilities they have,” he retorted. Marco Grimaldideputy from the Green-Left Alliance, who insinuated that the lack of government action in sports initiatives is one of the main factors contributing to the current critical state of Italian football.
Mauro Berrutofrom the Democratic Party, agreed, stating that the government should focus on “investigate the reasons that led to the abyss in Italian football”.
