Italy: FIGC cuts costs following failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup

"Cleaning up the Italian Football Federation’s accounts through a new round of cost reductions, while maintaining the commitments and projects that have characterised the FIGC’s activity in recent years" is the objective of the revision to the federation’s 2026 economic and financial management plan presented by secretary general Marco Brunelli during the Federal Council meeting held in Rome (Italy) on 26 May 2026, the last under the Gravina presidency.

This revision of the 2026 budget forecast, which now projects "a loss of just under €1m, compared with the €6.6m approved at the beginning of the year," became necessary "in light of the changing situation following the national team’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup," the FIGC said.

Italy, four-time World Cup winners (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006), will indeed be absent from the 23^rd edition of the tournament, hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026, having already missed the previous two World Cups in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

The national team was eliminated in the play-offs by Bosnia and Herzegovina…