Italy will miss the FIFA World Cup 2026, its third successive one. It lost its chance of making it to the Americas for the FIFA World Cup starting in June.
Canadian soccer fans will miss the opportunity of witnessing a Canada-Italy clash. Italy lost 2-1 (4-1 on penalty kicks) to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final of its UEFA playoff qualifier on Tuesday. This shock defeat officially eliminated the Italians from World Cup contention. With the win, Bosnia and Herzegovina secured its spot and will take on host Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland in Group B action.
FIFA World Cup 2026 fever has already gripped Canada and two of its host cities—Toronto and Vancouver. Warm-up games and training sessions are keeping soccer fans glued to their respective teams and their favorite players.
It is for the first time that the USA, Canada, and Mexico are playing joint hosts to the mega sporting event.
Bosnia and Herzegovina will face Canada in the opener for both teams on June 12 in Toronto.
Misses from Italy’s Francesco Esposito and Bryan Cristante in spot kicks set the loss in stone for the Italians, extending their World Cup drought to 12 years after having missed the tournament in 2018 and 2022.
In response, the Bosnians converted all four of their penalty attempts.
Beyond the clinical conversions in penalties, it took some late heroics from the Bosnians to secure their spot, as Haris Tabakovic found the back of the net for the equalizer in the 79th minute.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was also helped by a crucial mistake from Italy just before the half-time mark. Despite taking a 1-0 lead into the locker room, the Azzurri went back in a man down, as center-back Alessandro Bastoni was shown a red in the 41st minute for denying a clear goal-scoring chance with a last-gasp slide tackle.
However, it wouldn’t be enough to finish the job in regulation time. Despite a stark contrast in possession (Bosnia and Herzegovina out-possessed Italy 65-35) and chances (Bosnia and Herzegovina out-hot Italy 30-9, with 11 shots on goal to Italy’s three), the home side was unable to finish the job without penalties.
Bosnia and Herzegovina last qualified for the World Cup in 2014—its first appearance at the tourney—and was eliminated in group play.
In other European qualifier results, Sweden beat Poland 3-2 to secure its spot in Group F, Türkiye beat Kosovo 1-0 for a spot in Group D, and Czechia beat Denmark 3-2 in penalties for a spot in Group A. Congo and Jamaica play for a spot in Group K, while Iraq and Bolivia square off for a place in Group I.
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