Gennaro Gattuso, emotional message after farewell to national team

The hypothesis that saw Gennaro Gattuso continue in the role of technical commissioner of the national team at least until the election of the next president of the Federcalcio (scheduled for June 22) was definitively sundered on Friday: the Calabrian coach has in fact decided to leave the post, after just eight matches with a positive numerical balance (six won, one draw at 120′, one defeat) but tainted, inevitably, by the failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after Tuesday’s penalty shootout defeat in Bosnia.

“With pain in my heart, not having achieved the goal we had set for ourselves, I consider my experience on the bench of the national team concluded,” Gattuso explained in the message he wanted to address to fans through the official channels of the Italian Football Federation, on the sidelines of the announcement of his resignation. “The Azzurra jersey is the most valuable asset that exists in soccer, so it is right to facilitate future technical evaluations from the outset.

“I would like to thank President Gabriele Gravina and Gianluigi Buffon, and with them all the staff of the Federation, for the trust and support they have always guaranteed me,” the former midfielder added. “It has been an honor to be able to lead the national team and also to do so with a group of boys who have shown commitment and attachment to the jersey. But the biggest thanks go to the fans, to all the Italians who in these months have never failed to show their love and support for the national team. Always with l’Azzurro in my heart.”

At the age of 1978, winner of numerous trophies at club level as a player with the Milan shirt, Gennaro Gattuso was at his first experience leading a national team, a role he accepted last year after the abrupt break in the relationship between Luciano Spalletti and the Federcalcio. In his career on the bench, which began in 2013, he has led Sion (as player-coach), Palermo, OFI Crete, Pisa, AC Milan (Primavera and first team), Napoli, Valencia, Olympique Marseille and Hajduk Split, winning an Italian Cup, with Napoli, in the 2019-2020 season.