Tavecchio out as Italian president in wake of ‘Apocalypse Azzurri’
KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- Carlo Tavecchio has quit as president of the Italian football federation after the Azzurri’s World Cup qualifying failure climaxed his disastrous leadership of the domestic game.
Tavecchio, an unreconstructed old-school director who took over from Giancarlo Abete after the 2016 European Championship, brought his reign into disrepute almost from the outset with disparaging comments about black and women players.
Carlo Tavecchio: Tried to avoid the inevitable
His continuance in the role became impossible after the storm which followed Italy’s 1-0 aggregate defeat by Sweden last week in the 2018 World Cup qualifying play-offs.
This was only the second time Italy had failed to qualify. The previous failure was in 1958 while the only other World Cup without Italy was the inaugural tournament in Uruguay in 1930.
Tavecchio told an FIGC federal council meeting today of his resignation. It must now call new elections within 90 days.
Initially Tavecchio had asked for a two-week ‘breathing space’ before any major decisions were taken but the major clubs, with Juventus at their head, and players’ union leader Damiano Tomassi insisted this was impossible.
Over the weekend Tavecchio sought to defend himself and his position by heaping all the blame on Giam Piero Ventura, the little-known and barely-rated national coach who had already quit.
Tavecchio had said: “It was a technical debacle, a technical mistake in how the team was picked.
“I’ve not slept for four days. We played badly. We needed to get past those big Swedes with the little men, who were on the bench. How can you not pick [Lorenzo] Insigne? I said this to [Ventura’s] staff but not to him. It’s not like I can intervene — there are rules.”
Tavecchio had warned before the games against Sweden that a failure to qualify would signal an ‘apocalypse’.
After his fears were vindicated Tavecchio still hoped to disarm his critics with a quick appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as new coach but the ex-Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea boss is currently taking a break from the game after his sacking earlier this season by Bayern Munich.
In fact, during Tavecchio’s reign Italy has stepped up its influence in the corridors of power with Michele Uva becoming a vice-president of European federation UEFA, Evelina Cristallin being elected as a female member of the council of world governing body FIFA and Juventus president Andrea Agnelli becoming chairman of the European Club Association.
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