Italy federation chief resigns after another World Cup failure

ROME, April 2 : Italian soccer federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina resigned on Thursday, in the wake of the national team's failure to qualify for a third straight World Cup.

Gravina, in charge of the FIGC since 2018, had been urged by the government to step down after Italy's defeat on penalties in the playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday.

The federation will hold an extraordinary assembly on June 22 to elect a new chief, while Gravina offered to appear before a parliamentary committee on April 8 "to report on the state of health of Italian soccer", a statement said.

The Italian soccer team last qualified for the World Cup in 2014 and has won only one match at the finals since lifting the trophy for the fourth time in 2006.

Former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, national team delegation head, has also announced his resignation via social media.

Gravina was elected unopposed in October 2018, the 72-year-old replacing Carlo Tavecchio who resigned a week after Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

While Gravina's term included the Euro 2020 triumph, it also involved another two World Cup qualification failures and his position had become increasingly untenable after much criticism from Italian media and senior political figures.

Italy's Sports Minister Andrea Abodi described Italy's latest failure as a "definitive defeat" and suggested that Italian football needs to be "rebuilt from the ground up".

Gravina spoke immediately after the loss to Bosnia, saying he understood the request for resignation but that there was a suitable place to make evaluations.

That place was the FIGC headquarters in Rome, where Gravina met with the six federal components - Serie A, B and C, National Amateur League, Players'