Explaining the Decline of the Azzurri

The question to ask after the recent disappointments of the Italian national team is how it is possible that one of the most important national teams in the world, with four World Cups (second only to Brazil) and two European Championships, is at real risk of missing the 2026 World Cup for the third consecutive time.

To fully understand the various reasons leading Italy to decline, we must go back to the last World Cup won by the Azzurri, in 2006, beating France on penalties. That team, though full of absolute champions, was a team with a very advanced average age, and after the feat in Berlin, some of them never wore the Azzurri jersey again, so much so that in South Africa in 2010, only seven of them, not all of them starters, were called up by coach Marcello Lippi.

The national team's real decline began in 2010, when they exited in the group stage as defending champions. What connects an event that occurred 15 years ago to the present? The answer lies in the FIGC (Italian Football Federation), which, after several warning signs, has fallen light years behind its competitors like Spain, France, and Germany, even being overtaken by Norway, as happened a few days ago.

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