The national team has been shaken by the defeat in Bosnia. Two days after the defeat that cost us our third consecutive World Cup elimination , FIGC president Gabriele Gravina and delegation leader Gianluigi Buffon resigned .
"Submitting my resignation a minute after the end of the match against Bosnia was an urgent act, one that came from deep within me. It was as spontaneous as the tears and the ache in my heart that I know I share with all of you. I was asked to wait until everyone had the time to reflect. Now that President Gravina has chosen to step down, I feel free to do what I feel is a responsible act," the former World Cup-winning goalkeeper announced his resignation, implying that it was Gravina himself who had asked him to postpone his stepping back .
Head of the national team delegation since August 2023, Buffon resigned. "Despite the sincere belief that we have built a lot in terms of team spirit and team spirit with Rino Gattuso and all the collaborators, in the very short time available to the national team , the main objective was to bring Italy back to the World Cup. And we didn't succeed," he emphasized. "It's right to leave those who come after me the freedom to choose the person they deem best to fill my role. Representing the national team is an honor for me and a passion that has consumed me since I was a boy. I have tried to interpret my role by putting all my energy into it, looking at all sectors to be a link, a link for dialogue and synergy between the various youth teams, trying to structure, together with the various managers, a project that starts from the very young and reaches all the way up to the U21 national team. All this to rethink the way in which the talents of the future senior national team are nurtured."
She continued: "I requested and obtained the inclusion of a few key, highly experienced figures, who, together with the skills already present, are bringing about these necessary changes with a medium- and long-term vision. This is because I believe in the policy of meritocracy and job specialization. The right decision will be up to those in charge to judge. I hold it all dear, with gratitude for the privilege and the lessons that, even in its painful epilogue, this intense experience has left me with. Forza Azzurri, always."
Gravina had announced his resignation shortly before, at 2:30 PM at the start of the extraordinary Federal Council meeting convened in Rome. The elections to choose his successor will take place on June 22.
Gravina, 72, was elected on October 22, 2018 (almost a year after Italy's first World Cup qualification failure, which led to the resignation of the previous federal president Carlo Tavecchio) and re-elected on February 22, 2021 and again on February 3, 2025, in the latter case with 98.68% of the vote.
Also on the table is the farewell of coach Rino Gattuso .
(Unioneonline)
