Italy will have to play in a play-off to qualify for the 2026 World Cup - Photo: Reuters
Gattuso has now made no comment on this statement. Instead, he has directed his attack towards FIFA, claiming that European national teams are suffering injustice.
Is FIFA being unfair in allocating tickets?
This statement was made by coach Gattuso before Italy's final match against Norway in Group I of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the European region.
At that point, Italy had already admitted defeat against Norway due to a significant goal difference. To qualify, Italy would have to beat Norway by a margin of nine goals. That was an impossible task, and Italy lost 1-4 in that match.
But before the defeat, coach Gattuso made a statement that much of the football world perceived as an excuse.
Specifically, he complained that Italy had won 6 matches in the group stage but failed to secure a direct qualification spot from the European region. He also argued that FIFA was too biased towards South America by granting them 6 direct qualification spots (and 1 spot in the intercontinental play-off).
Leaving aside Italy's poor performance and deserved elimination, Gattuso's assessment is truly worth discussing. When FIFA increased the number of teams from 32 to 48, controversy arose surrounding the allocation of qualifying spots for each continent.
Accordingly, Europe increased from 13 to 16 official tickets, becoming the continent with the lowest increase at 23%. Meanwhile, South America increased from 4.5 tickets to 6.5 tickets (an increase of 44.4%). Asia and Africa saw an increase of nearly 100% in the number of tickets.
The South American situation is truly controversial, as the continent only has 10 teams, and 60% of them will qualify directly, plus one play-off spot. Meanwhile, in terms of proportion, Europe is at a significant disadvantage with only 16 spots out of 54 teams, accounting for 29.6%.
But is it really unfair?
This issue is worth debating, but unfortunately, it's not an excuse for Coach Gattuso. FIFA is perfectly justified in allocating more slots to South America, as this continent, despite having fewer countries, has the most balanced football system in the world .
No team in the world can confidently travel to Bolivia, Peru, or Chile – teams that are unable to qualify from the South American qualifiers due to their altitude. Many South American teams are known for having their national team's main stadiums located at altitudes of 2000-3000 meters above sea level.
Fans have seen Argentina and Brazil suffer crushing defeats on Bolivian soil because their star players couldn't handle the altitude. And with the home-and-away format of the qualifiers, Bolivia and Peru become incredibly tough opponents. And securing a spot in South America is not as easy as Gattuso claims.
Furthermore, South American representatives are never weak, as evidenced by their performance in the intercontinental play-offs. In 2018, Peru easily defeated New Zealand in the play-off to secure the final spot in the World Cup.
Four years earlier, Uruguay had thrashed Jordan 5-0 in a single match. In 2002, Australia had beaten Uruguay 1-0 in the first leg, but then suffered a heavy 0-3 defeat when they visited Uruguay's home ground. That was when South America had only been allocated 4.5 qualifying spots.
And the fifth-ranked team from South America has always outperformed the top-ranked representatives from the other continents. Therefore, FIFA's decision to increase their official qualification spots to six is understandable.
For Europe, are 16 automatic qualification spots too few? Probably not. Coach Gattuso lamented that "winning 6 matches still didn't secure a qualification spot." But those 6 wins came against Israel, Moldova, and Estonia – teams that are far weaker than South American teams like Chile or Peru.
Just look at Norway's goal tally to see the extent of their position at the bottom of European football. Norway scored 30 goals in 6 matches against the three aforementioned teams.
In Group K, England didn't concede a single goal in 8 matches. In Group L, Croatia, despite not being a particularly strong team, still dominated with 7 wins and 1 draw in a group where no other team could match them.
Italy may have been unlucky to draw Norway – the strongest of the second seeded teams in the World Cup qualifiers. But overall, Europe hasn't suffered too much of a disadvantage. And ultimately, coach Gattuso still has a chance in the play-off round with the remaining four spots.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ong-gattuso-khong-the-phan-nan-20251119101215955.htm
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