Football federation chief Gabriele Gravina was the first to fall on the sword, his resignation coming on Thursday afternoon, two days after he said he would wait a week before making a decision.
He was succeeded by national team general manager Gianluigi Buffon, while coach Gennaro Gattuso is also expected to leave in the coming days.
Now the talk is how to get Italian football back to the top table after years of failures by the national team and the slow decline of the country’s top clubs on the European stage.
Inter were the only club to have stayed with the continent’s best, but they too have contributed to the doom, gloom and despair after being kicked out of the Champions League by Norway’s Bodo/Glimt.
Cristian Chivu’s side have also become something of a symbol of Italy’s failure, with defender Alessandro Bastoni sent off in the first half against Bosnia and academy product Pio Esposito kicking the first penalty in the shootout.
And on Saturday Roma will be hoping to shake off a depression of their own as they remain in the hunt for a top-four finish.
Knocked out of the Europa League by Bologna and floundering in Serie A, Roma have a terrible record against the division’s top teams and trail fourth-placed Como by just three points.
But with Como at Udinese on a run of five straight victories, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma, sixth and level on 54 points with Juventus, risk falling further off the pace.
