Four-time champions Italy missed out on a third consecutive World Cup after losing to host Bosnia and Herzegovina in a penalty shootout in its playoff final Tuesday in Zenica.
With the loss, Italy becomes the first former champions to miss out on three straight World Cups, with none of the team’s current players ever having participated.
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Moise Kean scored early for Italy but then Azzurri center back Alessandro Bastoni was sent off with a direct red card before the break and Bosnia substitute Haris Tabakovic equalized in the 79th minute.
The match then went to extra time with the score 1-1 and Italy down to 10 players, but neither team scored in the 30 added minutes. In the shootout, Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante missed their spot kicks and U.S.-born Esmir Bajraktarević converted the decisive penalty for Bosnia.
“We still don’t believe it — that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy defender Leonardo Spinazzola said. “It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families, and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”
The defeat added more misery for Italy’s once-proud national team after being eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in qualifying playoffs for the past two World Cups and last winning a knockout round game in 2006 over France in the final.
In last week’s European playoff semifinals, Italy beat Northern Ireland 2-0. Bosnia eliminated Wales in a penalty shootout.
In Tuesday’s other European playoff finals, Sweden and Türkiye each qualified. Sweden beat Poland 3-2 and Turkey beat Kosovo 1-0. Czechia also qualified after beating Denmark in a shootout.
The latest ouster for Italy means that the 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 champions will go at least 16 years without even playing a match at soccer’s biggest event.
Italy’s World Cup struggles date to 2010 and 2014, having failed to advance from its group on both occasions. Italy did win the European Championship in 2021.
The only other World Cup that Italy did not qualify for was in 1958.
Bosnia will play at a second World Cup following their debut in 2014, and will be in Group B at this summer’s tournament alongside co-host Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
Italy’s defeat will raise questions about the status of coach Gennaro Gattuso, who took over from the fired Luciano Spalletti in June with the squad already in crisis mode following a defeat at Norway in its opening qualifier.
The Azzurri then went on a six-match winning streak before losing again to Norway in November to finish second in their group and end up in the playoffs again.
Despite the win over Northern Ireland in Bergamo, Italy struggled against Bosnia inside the intimate but imposing 14,000-seat Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, which is surrounded by apartment towers overlooking the field.
“I want to personally apologize since we didn’t make it,” Gattuso said. “Today talking about my future is not important. Today it was important to get to the World Cup.”
On paper, it was a massive mismatch between 12th-ranked Italy and Bosnia, which is ranked 54 places below by FIFA.
Italy has a population of nearly 60 million. Bosnia’s is about 3.5 million.
Bajraktarević, who had the winning penalty, was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. He made his U.S. debut in a January 2024 friendly against Slovenia and then switched affiliation that August.
In Tuesday’s other pivotal games, Viktor Gyökeres scored in the 88th minute to earn the Swedes a 3-2 win over Poland, five days after netting a hat trick in the playoff semifinal victory over Ukraine.
Poland great Robert Lewandowski, 37, was hoping to qualify for what probably would have been his final World Cup.
Former Chelsea and West Ham coach Graham Potter was hired by Sweden last year — initially on a short-term deal — with one goal: to get the team to the World Cup. He succeeded.
Sweden reached the quarterfinals in its last World Cup appearance in 2018.
Türkiye will be in the United States’ group at the World Cup after winning 1-0 at Kosovo to reach soccer’s biggest stage for the first time since 2002.
Kosovo were hoping to qualify for the World Cup for the first time, fewer than 10 years since the national team was out of the international soccer family.
It was in May 2016 that Kosovo and Gibraltar were voted into FIFA as its 210th and 211th member federations. That was eight years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.
Kosovo had the best chance of an entertaining first half, but Türkiye goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakır pulled off a superb one-handed save to push Fisnik Asllani’s strike onto the crossbar.
Türkiye got the breakthrough eight minutes into the second half. Kerem Aktürkoğlu got the finest of touches to ensure Orkun Kökçü’s cross-shot went into the far bottom corner.
Türkiye joins the U.S. in Group D, along with Paraguay and Australia.
Czechia reached its first World Cup since 2006 with a penalty shootout victory over Denmark following a 2-2 draw.
Michal Sadílek converted the winning spot kick in the 3-1 penalty shootout win. It was Czechia’s second straight victory on penalties after also prevailing on spot kicks against Ireland in the semifinal.
Czechia will face co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and South Korea in Group A.
Information from The Associated Press and PA was used in this report.
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