Roberto Mancini is back as Italy head coach for a second spell. The former Manchester City manager won Euro 2020 with the Azzurri, but they have failed to qualify for the last three World Cups. With exclusive insight from captain Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sky Sports' Sam Blitz examines the road back for Italy.
Football Journalist @SamBIitz
Thursday 24 September 2026 07:16, UK
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This year, Italian football hit its lowest point. No Italian club made it past the quarter-finals in Europe, and Atalanta were the only Serie A side to reach the Champions League last 16. But that paled next to the national team's struggles.
Italy missed out on a third consecutive World Cup, an unthinkable outcome for a nation that has won the tournament four times. The first two failures were masked by the Euro 2020 triumph at Wembley, which gave the country hope. The third failure proved the final straw. A 48-team World Cup did not include Italy. It led to the resignations of head coach Gennaro Gattuso, Italian FA president Gabriele Gravina, and Gianluigi Buffon as the team's head of delegation.
"It's a sensitive subject that affects me a lot, because not qualifying for three World Cups in a row is tough, and Italy certainly doesn't deserve that," captain Gianluigi Donnarumma told Sky Sports.
Now Italy have turned to the past. Roberto Mancini, the manager who led them to the European title five years ago, is back in charge.
"We have to work. The only way forward is to work," Donnarumma added. "There has now been a change of coach, the return of Mr Mancini – and the objective is to work and try to take Italy back to where it deserves to be.
"I know it's not easy for the fans, but especially for us, because only we know how much it means to us to play in a competition like the World Cup.
"So we'll give everything to bring Italy back to where it deserves to be. We have a great responsibility because history says that Italy should always be there. History has taught us that. So we have to bring Italy back to where it belongs."
Italy belong at the top table, but they have been far from that level for some time. The latest World Cup failure continues a long decline since reaching the summit in 2006. Twenty years on, that penalty shootout win over France remains Italy's last World Cup knockout appearance. They have won just one World Cup match since then, the 2-1 victory over England in Brazil in 2014.
There was the successful European Championship campaign of 2012, when Italy reached the final. But since those days, Italy have not been the same, for multiple reasons.
Italy have not been able to reproduce the world-class talent they once possessed. The 2006 World Cup-winning side featured Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Gattuso and Alessandro Del Piero. Six years later, that generation lived on through Buffon, Daniele De Rossi and Andrea Pirlo. But since the retirement of Giorgio Chiellini and Leandro Bonucci, the next generation has been lost.
According to the CIES Football Observatory, between 2020 and 2025, Italy produced just 413 football exports, ranking 24th in the world, behind the United States, Japan and Russia. The other four nations in Europe's big five leagues all managed over 1,000 players in the same category. Italy's players, young or old, are just not as fancied by Europe's elite.
