Spalletti Sacked After Troubled Tenure

Luciano Spalletti announced his own sacking on Sunday in a press conference after Italy's poor start to World Cup qualification with a 3-0 loss to Norway to end what has been a tough few years as head coach.

With Italy not wanting to make it a hat-trick of World Cups they haven't qualified for, who is right to take the hotseat, and are there more problems that meet the eye?

Spalletti took charge of the Italian national team from Roberto Mancini in September 2023 after club success with Napoli, guiding them to their third Scudetto.

His dismissal as Azzurri head coach comes after less than two years in the role and the standards have been incredibly poor during his time. While he did take them to Euro 2024, the disappointing performances there had already put him under immense pressure before the poor World Cup qualifying performances.

Italy went to Germany but after a win against Albania they lost to Spain and were lucky to snatch a point late against Croatia to qualify for the knockout stages where they were beaten easily 2-0 against Switzerland.

Italy under Spalletti seemed to recover in the Nations League campaign, beating France 3-1 away from home but began 2025 with a 2-1 loss at San Siro to Germany and found themselves 3-0 down in the next leg in Dortmund.

Friday's 3-0 loss to Norway appears to have been the last straw for the FIGC and for fans especially having not qualified for the last two World Cups; the prospect of missing out on a third straight was simply too much to bare.

Spalletti was asked if he felt betrayed in his final press conference but couldn't get any more words out and left the press conference with tears in his eyes. This was not by any means a man who had abandoned his team at a difficult time, but instead someone being told they were no longer wanted.

Who can take Italy to the World Cup?

With this news, rumours and reports are coming out about who might take the vacancy with the national team and Italian media suggesting that current Al-Hilal boss Stefano Pioli, who won the Scudetto with AC Milan in 2022, is one of the favourites as he is expected to be leaving the club as he could also take the role at Fiorentina after Raffaele Palladino's departure.

Legendary club coach Claudio Ranieri officially ended his managerial career at AS Roma and is currently moved into a senior advisory role with the Giallorossi's ownership. If the Azzurri can tempt him back out of retirement for one last dance, the Tinkerman could guide Italy back to the World Cup stage and put the two failures of 2018 and 2022 in the rear view mirror.

A tough role to fill

When appointing Spalletti after his domestic success, the FIGC ultimately wanted stability but the signs were still there even prior to his appointment under previous coach Mancini.

There is simply a lack of identity in the National team, something that has become an unfortunate, reoccurring theme. Italy's reputation as a football powerhouse took its first blow ultimately in South Africa in 2010 and fazed out by Brazil 2014.

Despite the hard work Antonio Conte put in to make Italy competitive again at the highest level, the tenure of Gian Piero Ventura reversed that and brought all sorts of damage along the way.

Players are beginning to doubt themselves against lesser sides and with the size of the player selection pool being at an all-time low and with the lack of Italians within the top flight, who ever is going to fill the shoes next is going to have a really tough time of things because if Spalletti, a coach renowned for exceptional player development, struggled to improve things then who can?