Italy’s soccer federation president became the second major casualty of the Azzurri’s failure to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years. Carlo Tavecchio resigned Monday amid eroding support, a week after the playoff loss to Sweden and five days after he fired national team coach Gian Piero Ventura.
”I resigned for political reasons, not sports reasons,” an angry Tavecchio said at a news conference. ”We missed the World Cup and it has become a tragedy.”
The announcement came after calls for a complete overhaul of the nation’s most popular sport, from amateur leagues right up to Serie A and the national teams. Four-time champion Italy finished second in its World Cup qualifying group behind Spain and then was beaten by Sweden 1-0 on aggregate in the playoff. Tavecchio appeared to lay the blame for Italy’s failure solely with fired coach Ventura. He added that it was Marcello Lippi’s decision to hire Ventura when Lippi was being considered for the position of national team adviser – a role that Lippi never officially assumed.
”I’m paying for Ventura even though I didn’t choose him,” said Tavecchio, pointing his finger at a news conference where emotions ran high.
Carlo Ancelotti leads the list of possible successors to Ventura.
”I talked with four or five great coaches. They’re all busy,” Tavecchio said.
For the last week, Tavecchio had resisted calls to step down but he eventually lost the support of the federation’s board of directors.
”I resigned instantly. And I asked the entire board to resign, too, but nobody did,” Tavecchio said, adding that he would stay on and guide the federation until elections, which must be held within 90 days.
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