🏆 Italy in the play-offs, less joy more pain: old ghosts 🔙, taboos ❌ | OneFootball

Italy is preparing to write another chapter in its football history: qualification for the World Cup will be decided through the playoffs, and it’s not the first time it has happened.

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On one hand, the Azzurri are one of the most successful national teams ever — with 4 World Cups in the trophy cabinet and 18 appearances in the final tournament — but on the other, every playoff is experienced with the anxiety and pressure of those who know they cannot afford to make a mistake.

The contrast is all here: a historic powerhouse that, when it reaches a crossroads, often turns tension into trauma.

👀 A 'giant' at a CROSSROADS

There’s a fascinating contradiction in Italy’s World Cup story: the Azzurri have won four editions — 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 — but they have also experienced the humiliation of failing to qualify.

Before 2018, Italy had put together 14 consecutive appearances in the final tournament; that’s precisely why playoffs were never seen as normal, but as a red alert.

❌ 1958: the first SHOCK

The first exclusion dates back to 1958, when Alfredo Foni’s Italy failed to qualify after losing 2-1 in Belfast to Northern Ireland.

That defeat became the symbol of a national team less brilliant than in the past and remained for decades as a historic wound.

A match that went down in history as the one that made Italians realize that even the Azzurri could miss out on the World Cup.

✅ 1997: the only World Cup playoff WON

The last World Cup playoff won by Italy dates back to 1997.

In qualifying for France 1998, the Azzurri eliminated Russia: 1-1 in Moscow and 1-0 in Rome, with the decisive goal scored by Pierluigi Casiraghi.

It is the only truly positive modern precedent, and for that reason today it is remembered almost as a happy exception within a much more bitter story.

🧱 2017: everything falls apart against Sweden

The playoff against Sweden for Russia 2018 permanently changed the collective perception of the national team.

Italy lost 1-0 in the first leg and could do no better than a 0-0 draw at San Siro, missing out on the World Cup for the first time since 1958.

A night that represented a true footballing shock for the Azzurri: in that moment, Italy lost its status as one of the 'big' teams.

😵 2022: Palermo and the most absurd KO

If 2017 was painful, 2022 was almost surreal.

As reigning European champions, Italy came into the playoff against North Macedonia and were eliminated in the 92nd minute by a right-footed strike from Aleksandar Trajkovski, former Palermo player, right at the Renzo Barbera.

It was perhaps the lowest point because it came after Euro 2020 and after a match in which Italy created a lot without managing to score.

🤞 2026: Bosnia to BREAK the spell

The clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica weighs like a ton on the national team.

After getting past — with some difficulty, especially emotionally — Northern Ireland in Bergamo, the Azzurri face Dzeko and his teammates to break the playoff taboo and return to the World Cup for the first time since 2014.

A daunting task that Gattuso’s boys will have to complete if they want to restore the national team’s status and dream of reliving new 'magical nights'.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 Simon Bruty