Gianluigi Buffon has stepped down from his position as head of delegation for Italy following their failure to qualify for the World Cup.
The choice comes three days after Italy had been crushed on penalties by Bosnia and Herzegovina within the play-off ultimate, confirming their absence from a 3rd consecutive event.
Buffon, 48, was appointed by the Italian Soccer Federation in August 2023, eight days earlier than Roberto Mancini’s position as head coach ended.
The legendary goalkeeper retained his position when Mancini’s successor, Luciano Spalletti, was changed by Gennaro Gattuso final June. Stories in Italy have urged Gattuso will even depart imminently.
Buffon oversaw Italy’s EURO 2024 marketing campaign, which ended with a defeat to Switzerland within the final 16 in Germany.
Italy completed behind Norway of their group in Germany and beat Northern Eire 2-0 at residence within the play-off semi-finals earlier than shedding in Zenica.
That outcome prolonged a historic run of failure for Italy, who’ve now missed three straight World Cup tournaments for the primary time.
Buffon loved a distinguished worldwide profession as a participant, profitable the World Cup in 2006 – when Gattuso was one among his Italy teammates – and incomes 176 caps.
A participant at 5 editions of the finals, Buffon additionally captained Italy for a number of years and gained the Italian title 10 instances with Juventus, in addition to reaching the Champions League ultimate with the membership in 2003, 2015 and 2017.
