Rome: Italian football federation president Carlo Tavecchio resigned on Monday, a week after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup.
The announcement came following calls for a complete overhaul of the nation’s most popular sport, from amateur leagues right up to Serie A and the national teams.
Sweden’s play-off win over Italy kept the four-time champions out of the World Cup for the first time in six decades.
The Azzurri finished second in their qualifying group behind Spain and then were beaten by Sweden 1-0 on aggregate.
Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura was fired two days after the loss.
For the last week, Tavecchio had resisted calls to step down but he eventually lost the support of the federation’s board of directors.
At a summit called to address the failed qualification, Tavecchio told the board that political manoeuvres “have prevented us from discussing the reasons for this result”.
“I’ve taken note that some of you have changed your stances,” Tavecchio added before announcing his resignation.
Former federation chief Giancarlo Abete said as he left the board meeting that a new election would be held within 90 days.
