Italy out, Vannacci blames immigration'immigration
Roberto Vannacci blames immigration after yet another Italian soccer debacle. The founder of the Futuro Nazionale party did not mince words on Facebook after Italy’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup: Gattuso’s team lost on penalties in Zenica against Bosnia, condemning the Belpaese to watch the rainbow review on the couch for the third consecutive edition.
“Immigration also destroys soccer,” is the incipit of General Vannacci’s post. “Serie A today is the league with the highest number of foreigners in Europe: 67.5 percent of players are non-Italian, 384 out of 569, a percentage that exceeds even the Premier League. This business-oriented model favors the clubs but ’empties’ the national nursery: the national team, in fact, can only fish from a pool that represents 30 percent of the league.”
“The result is a structural crisis, confirmed by the third consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup and years of lack of investment in youth. Clubs today see the Azzurri jersey as a ‘nuisance’ that does not produce revenue and prefer to buy ready-made foreign players instead of growing Italian talent.”
“This attitude is driving young people away from soccer and weakening the movement. Soccer and all sport also represents a national interest since it has its own cultural and economic as well as identity weight. These rules need to be revised especially in the youth sectors,” is the conclusion of Vannacci’s message.
FIGC President Gabriele Gravina has called an emergency federal council meeting after the failure of Gattuso’s team: important decisions on the future of the Italian movement, which has fallen into disgrace for years now, could be forthcoming.
