"The Curse of Nobility"... A new lesson in "loyalty" from Gattuso amidst the gloom of Italy's failure

Italian football is going through one of its most turbulent periods following yet another failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, continuing a run of disappointments that has dogged the national team since its historic triumph at the 2006 World Cup.

The defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties was the final straw for the Azzurri, paving the way for a mass exodus within the Italian Football Federation, including President Gabriele Gravina, General Manager Gianluigi Buffon and manager Gennaro Gattuso.

For the third time in a row

Italy’s exit from the qualifiers was not so much a surprise as it was a painful blow. After a stuttering start to the qualifying campaign, Gattuso tried to salvage what he could, but the team lacked identity and attacking effectiveness, bowing out of the competition against Bosnia in a dramatic match that ended on penalties.

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As a result, the Italian national team will miss out on the World Cup for the third time in a row, a first in its history, sparking a wave of outrage in the Italian sporting world.

Mass exodus

Following the shocking exit, a comprehensive restructuring process began within the Italian Football Federation.

Within a few days, both Gravina and Buffon announced their resignations from their posts, before Gattuso followed suit on Friday, less than a year after taking over as head coach from Luciano Spalletti in June 2025.

However, the announcement of Gattuso’s departure came several days after the others, prompting questions in the Italian media about the reason for the delay.

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The real reason

The Corriere della Sera revealed that the reason behind the delay in the announcement was not a management dispute or negotiations over his future, but was linked to the settlement of severance pay for the coaching staff.

Gattuso insisted that his coaching staff receive their full entitlements before any official announcement, even if it meant he himself had to waive his financial rights.

Indeed, the manager waived the remaining amount of his contract with the Italian Football Federation to ensure his assistants received their compensation as quickly as possible.

The Gattuso Curse

What Gattuso did was not unprecedented in his career, but rather a continuation of what is known in the Italian media as the ‘Gattuso Curse’, namely his permanent departure without compensation.

In 2019, he left his former club Milan without receiving any severance pay, despite having extended his contract until 2021, preferring instead that his coaching staff’s salaries be paid for the remaining two years.

According to reports by "SportMediaset", he repeated the same approach during his spells with OFI Crete, Pisa and Hajduk Split, where he always chose to leave quietly, waiving his entitlements to maintain the stability of his staff.

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