UEFA president Alexander Ceferin has warned that Italy could lose their co-hosting rights for the 2032 European Championship unless the existing football infrastructure is upgraded. The development comes a day after the country failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for an unprecedented third consecutive time. It has led to the Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina stepping down from his position amid mounting criticism at home.
“Euro 2032 is scheduled and will take place. I hope the infrastructure will be ready,” Ceferin told Gazzetta dello Sport. “Otherwise, the tournament will not be played in Italy.” The tournament is set to be co-hosted by Italy and Turkey. Italy boast some of the most iconic football stadiums but clubs that play in them have struggled with renovation work. With the exception of Juventus, almost every major club in Italy, including AC Milan, Inter Milan, Lazio and AS Roma, play at stadiums that are ultimately owned by public authorities.
Ceferin expressed his support for Gravina , who is also UEFA’s first vice-president, and the Italian players, stating that the responsibility for the country’s predicament falls on the shoulders of Italian politicians. “Perhaps it is Italian politicians who should be asking themselves why Italy has some of the worst football infrastructure in Europe,” he said.
“It is absolutely not Gabriele’s responsibility, and I would never allow myself to attack either the players or the coach.” He also criticised detractors “who wait in hiding for something to go wrong so they can emerge and start criticising. “They don’t support Italy, they support themselves. Tell me, which Italian player wasn’t called up and should have been? This is football, and even with the best players on the pitch, anyone can lose a match.”
Italy lost a penalty shootout to Bosnia on Tuesday in their playoff match, thus ending their road to the 2026 World Cup. It was a crushing blow to a team that has won the tournament four times. This makes them the joint-second most succesfull team in the history of the tournament along with Germany and only one behind Brazil’s record of five titles.
