<\/p>\n
Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma walks off the pitch after losing in a World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari\/LaPresse via AP)<\/p>\n
Fabio Ferrari\/AP<\/p>\n
Referee Clement Turpin shows a red card to Italy’s Alessandro Bastoni (21) during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. . (Fabio Ferrari\/LaPresse via AP)<\/p>\n
Fabio Ferrari\/AP<\/p>\n
Italy’s coach Gennaro Gattuso walks off the pitch after losing in a World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari\/LaPresse via AP)<\/p>\n
Fabio Ferrari\/AP<\/p>\n
Italy’s Pio Esposito reacts after missing a penalty kick during a World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari\/LaPresse via AP)<\/p>\n
Fabio Ferrari\/AP<\/p>\n
Italy players react during a penalty shootout during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026.<\/p>\n
Armin Durgut\/AP<\/p>\n
Bosnia’s coach Sergej Barbarez is chaired aloft as he celebrates after winning a penalty shootout during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026.<\/p>\n
Armin Durgut\/AP<\/p>\n
One of soccer\u2019s historic powers has reached a once-unfathomable low.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for a third straight World Cup after getting beat in a penalty shootout with 10 men at 66th-ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European playoffs on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Moise Kean scored early on 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 to send the game into extra time at 1-1.<\/p>\n
The defeat added more misery for Italy\u2019s once-proud national team after being eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia, respectively, in the qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s too easy to say what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not working,\u201d Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso said. \u201cThe fact is that Italy has failed to qualify for three World Cups. We\u2019re having a tough time achieving our goals, both with the national team and with our clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bosnia won the shootout 4-1 and qualified for the first time since 2014 \u2014 its only previous appearance.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
In the shootout, Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante missed their spot kicks and U.S.-born Esmir Bajraktarevi\u0107 converted the decisive penalty for Bosnia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still don\u2019t believe it \u2014 that we\u2019re out and that it happened in this manner,\u201d Italy defender Leonardo Spinazzola said. \u201cIt\u2019s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families, and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Tuesday\u2019s other European playoff finals, Sweden, Turkey and the Czech Republic each qualified. Sweden beat Poland 3-2; Turkey beat Kosovo 1-0; and the Czechs beat Denmark in a shootout.<\/p>\n
Italy’s latest ouster means that the 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 champions will go at least 16 years without even playing a match at soccer\u2019s biggest event.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s World Cup struggles go back all the way to 2010 and 2014, having failed to advance from its group on both occasions. Although the Azzurri did win the European Championship in 2021.<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s last World Cup knockout match was when it won the title in 2006 by beating France in a penalty shootout.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realize we’re in a huge crisis,\u201d Italian soccer federation president Gabriele Gravina said.<\/p>\n
The only other World Cup that Italy did not qualify for was in 1958.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Lost generation<\/p>\n
An entire generation \u2014 basically anyone under 15 \u2014 has no memory of the last time Italy played in the World Cup: An elimination loss to Uruguay in 2014 in Brazil remembered for Luis Suarez\u2019s bite of Giorgio Chiellini\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n
None of Italy\u2019s current players have participated in a World Cup finals.<\/p>\n
The defeat will raise questions about the status of 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.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Gattuso\u2019s Italy overcame a nervy scoreless first half to beat Northern Ireland 2-0 at home in last week\u2019s playoff semifinals. But the Azzurri struggled even more against Bosnia inside the intimate but imposing 14,000-seat Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, which is surrounded by apartment towers overlooking the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to personally apologize since we didn\u2019t make it,\u201d Gattuso said. \u201cToday talking about my future is not important. Today it was important to get to the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mismatch on paper<\/p>\n
On paper, it was a massive mismatch between 12th-ranked Italy and Bosnia, which is ranked 54 places below the Azzurri by FIFA.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Italy has a population of nearly 60 million. Bosnia\u2019s is about 3.5 million.<\/p>\n
The combined club salaries of Italy\u2019s players total nearly 1 billion euros ($1 million). Bosnia\u2019s total is a seventh of that.<\/p>\n
Bajraktarevi\u0107, 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.<\/p>\n
Gyokeres the savior for Sweden<\/p>\n
Viktor Gyokeres has sent Sweden back to the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The Arsenal striker 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.<\/p>\n
Poland great Robert Lewandowski, at age 37, was hoping to qualify for what would likely have been his final World Cup.<\/p>\n
Former Chelsea and West Ham coach Graham Potter was hired by Sweden last year \u2014 initially on a short-term deal \u2014 with one goal: to get the team to the World Cup. He has succeeded.<\/p>\n
Sweden reached the quarterfinals in its last World Cup appearance, in 2018.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
No dream debut for Kosovo<\/p>\n
Turkey will be in the United States\u2019 group at the World Cup after winning 1-0 at Kosovo to reach soccer\u2019s biggest stage for the first time since 2002.<\/p>\n
The hosts 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Kosovo had the best chance of an entertaining first half but Turkey goalkeeper U\u011furcan \u00c7ak\u0131r pulled off a superb one-handed save to push Fisnik Asllani\u2019s strike onto the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Turkey got the breakthrough eight minutes into the second half. Kerem Akt\u00fcrko\u011flu got finest of touches to ensure Orkun K\u00f6k\u00e7\u00fc\u2019s cross-shot went into the far bottom corner.<\/p>\n
Turkey joins the U.S. in Group D, along with Paraguay and Australia.<\/p>\n
Long wait ended<\/p>\n
The Czech Republic reached its first World Cup since 2006 with a penalty shootout victory over Denmark following a 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Michal Sadilek converted the winning spotkick in the 3-1 penalty shootout success. It was the Czech Republic\u2019s second straight victory on penalties after also prevailing on spotkicks against Ireland in the semifinal.<\/p>\n
The Czech Republic will face co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and South Korea in Group A.<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writers Daniella Matar and Steve Douglas contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n