Why Italy won't be at the Qatar World Cup despite being champions of Europe

Roberto Mancini's men beat England on penalties at Wembley in the summer of 2021 to win the delayed Euro 2020 in dramatic fashion.

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But despite winning FIFA's showpiece evert four times, Gil Azzurri are set to miss their second consecutive World Cup in a major fall from grace.

Why won't Italy be at the World Cup?

Italy were placed into Group C in the European qualifiers and finished second behind Switzerland.

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Mancini's side were unbeaten across the eight games but four draws cost them top spot.

As a result, they were placed into a play-off against North Macedonia, but despite having 32 shots at goal, they lost 1-0 and were knocked out.

Portugal then beat North Macedonia in the play-off final to seal their place at Qatar.

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After the game, Chelsea midfielder Jorginho revealed his disappointment at missing out: "It hurts, it hurts so much.

"We have always created and dominated matches, but we have not been able to finish teams off. It is not to blame anyone in particular, but it is the reality.

"I don't know why we haven't been able to do this, I am also involved in this, and it hurts me to think about it."

So despite earning the crown as the best team in Europe, Italy will not be at the World Cup.

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Now many people would argue that winning the Euros should earn said team an automatic place at the next World Cup, but as it stands, that's not the case.

This has baffled former Italian forward Roberto Baggio, who expressed his views recently: "Italy won the European Championship, I think it's shameful, it's madness that they are not given an automatic berth to the World Cup for that.

"Anyone can lose one game against anyone else on a bad day, but these lads deserve some sort of reward for what they achieved, don't they? If I had been in that squad, I would've struggled to accept it."

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Maybe the rules will change, but for now, the World Cup will be without the current European champions.

In truth, we will miss Italy's presence at the World Cup because they are one of the most successful nations and would have contributed to a fantastic spectacle.

Instead, they will have to watch the rest of the world compete for football's most prestigious trophy from their sofas.