Donnarumma the poster boy for Italy XI that have never played at a World Cup finals

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·1 aprile 2026

Donnarumma the poster boy for Italy XI that have never played at a World Cup finals

Gianluigi Donnarumma is one of two Italy stars with 82 caps but not a World Cup finals appearance between them.

Donnarumma and Nicolo Barella suffered their third World Cup heartache on Tuesday night when the Azzurri failed to qualify for the finals this summer.

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Not since 2014 have the four-time winners been to a finals, having made an almighty balls-up of three qualification campaigns on the bounce, despite winning a European Championships in the meantime.

Here is the best Italy XI, with an average of 52 caps, that have not yet and may never play in a World Cup finals…

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma

The poster boy for Italy’s World Cup failure, not because he’s particularly culpable, but Donnarumma is one of the few genuinely world-class talents the Azzurri has produced of late. And he’s been involved in all three recent failures to qualify on the way to amassing 82 caps.

Still, the Manchester City stopper will only be 31 by the time 2030 rolls around. It’s not inconceivable that Donnarumma could still play in two World Cup finals tournaments. Assuming Italy ever get their s*** together.

RB: Alessandro Florenzi

Florenzi, who succeeded Francesco Totti as Roma captain, played for Italy for a decade from 2012 and was unfortunate to miss out on selection by Cesare Prandelli for the 2014 World Cup.

‘No matter, there will be other chances’, he presumably thought as a 23-year-old. Another 45 caps followed through to 2022 but none at a World Cup finals.

CB: Giovanni Di Lorenzo

The 53-cap Napoli defender, here playing inside of his normal position, is currently sidelined through injury but him and Guglielmo Vicario travelled to Bosnia with the squad anyway, presumably in anticipation of a qualification party; but Di Lorenzo walked into a another wake.

CB: Alessandro Bastoni

Like Donnarumma, Bastoni is considered one of the best in the world in his position and, similarly, the 26-year-old might yet play at a finals. But the Inter defender, recently linked with Barcelona, capped a poor season by his own standards with the red card in Bosnia that many in Italy are blaming for this latest national shame.

LB: Federico Dimarco

The Inter full-back has fluffed two qualification campaigns now and his reaction to Bosnia beating Wales only added fuel to the hosts’ fire in Zenica on Tuesday night. Age 28, Dimarco would have been going to the United States in his prime. Now he’s beach-bound again.

MF: Jorginho

“It will haunt me for the rest of my life. Stepping up there twice and not being able to help your team and your country is something that I will carry with me forever, and it weighs on me.”

That was the 57-cap midfielder after his second failure to get Italy to a World Cup finals in 2022. But misery loves company and Jorginho has plenty of that now.

MF: Sandro Tonali

Some consolation for the Newcastle midfielder: he was one of very few to escape a shoeing in the Italian press in the wake of the Bosnia debacle. And now his agent has all summer to sort out the move he’s been angling for.

MF: Nicolo Barella

The Inter midfielder, capped 82 times, has been involved in three qualification failures, though he will point to the fact that he only had a watching brief from the bench when Italy made a b*llocks of it for the 2018 tournament.

FWD: Federico Chiesa

Perhaps Chiesa knew what was coming because unlike the other injured players who stuck around the camp for these qualification play-offs, the Liverpool winger was away as soon as it became clear he would not be making his first Azzurri appearance since Euro 2024. Gennaro Gattuso did not sound impressed.

“He had some minor issues and we decided that it was useless for him to stay… not every player has the same frame of mind. When I hear that someone is wavering that’s when I know I need to make a choice. We decided it together. He felt he wasn’t up to it and he went home. I need to accept it.”

FWD: Giacomo Raspadori

Perhaps part of Italy’s failures can be put down to the absence of a truly top-class centre-forward over the last decade of so. Raspadori, back in Serie A since January after flopping at Atletico Madrid, is approaching 50 caps but only once has the 26-year-old got into double figures for league goals.

FWD: Federico Bernardeschi

The ex-Juventus winger was called up to the Italy squad around the 2014 World Cup as part of a programme to push the next generation. Evidently, it did not work. Bernardeschi was part of two qualification failures but, now at Bologna, he has been out of the Azzurri picture since his 39th and final cap in 2022.