After Italy’s heavy defeat to Norway at the start of the World Cup qualifiers, smoke appeared, and two days later – the fire. Italian media began speculating that Luciano Spalletti was likely to step down from his position as national team coach, only for the Italian himself to confirm an hour later that he was indeed leaving – but not of his own will.Italy vs. Moldova will be Luciano Spalletti’s last game as Azzurri head coach.#Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/h5emYOlH6t— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) June 8, 2025 “In the last few hours, I was with the president. Gravina told me that I’m being relieved of my duties as head coach of the national team. I’m sorry because I didn’t want to give up. I would have liked to stay and do my job. I’ve always seen this position as serving my country, so I’ll make things easier and terminate the contract. I accept responsibility. The Italian Football Federation gave me all the support they could. But these are the results. A convincing win tomorrow would be perfect for whoever succeeds me. It hurts because I didn’t get the best out of this team. I’m sorry. When I accepted the job, I knew it would be complicated. And I failed. You’ve all been fair with your comments. We deserved even worse. I created a problem with the results I produced. I’m convinced things could have been different, that I could have taken Italy to the World Cup” said Spalletti.Italy sunk in a soaked OsloThe experienced coach took over Italy in September 2023, led them to the European Championship, where – after advancing from the group stage with Spain, Croatia, and Albania – they were eliminated in the round of 16 by Switzerland. Not long ago, Germany stopped their run to the Nations League semifinals, and the loss to Norway, not just in terms of the 3-0 score but also the overall impression, cost him his position as head coach.The two popular names to potentially replace Spalletti as Italy’s coach are Claudio Ranieri and Stefano Pioli. 🇮🇹 Here is how Italy could lineup under each coach.(📸 ⎸ GdS) pic.twitter.com/z0cGahZfHV— Raffaele (@ItalianoCalcio) June 8, 2025 After a few questions about the defeat to Norway and the upcoming match against Moldova, journalists asked Spalletti if he felt betrayed. The Italian replied: “Why would I feel betrayed?” According to Gazzetta dello Sport, those were Spalletti’s final words at the press conference. It was clear he was struggling, that emotions had taken over, and he soon left the room. One of the main candidates to take over the national team is said to be Stefano Pioli but Claudio Ranieri is in the mix too.UEFA NATIONS LEAGUEThird-place gameSunday Germany – France 0-2 (0-1)/Mbappe 45, Olise 84/FinalSunday 22.00: (3.80) Portugal (3.85) Spain (1.90)***odds are subject to change***
