Italy relived one of its nightmares after being eliminated in the 2026 World Cup playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina following a 1-1 draw and a 4-1 loss in a penalty shootout on Tuesday, March 31.
The result marked a historic milestone: the “Azzurri” will not qualify for the tournament for the third consecutive time, and fans have already begun speculating about their losing streak. Among all the possibilities, the “Zinedine Zidane curse” has resurfaced.
Italy’s World Cup elimination reignites talk of “Zidane Curse”
Following their victory in the playoff semifinal against Northern Ireland, Gennaro Gattuso’s team were the favorites to qualify for the World Cup. During the match, the Azzurri took the lead thanks to a goal by Moise Kean; however, Alessandro Bastoni was sent off in the 41st minute, leaving the team with 10 players on the field. In the 79th minute, Haris Tabakovic scored the equalizer.
After extra time, the match went to a penalty shootout, where Donnarumma failed to stop all four of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s shots.
Fans were disappointed to see Italy fail once again on soccer’s biggest stage after having achieved glory in 2006, and took to X.
“This is actually sad,” said one of them. “This is heartbreaking for a nation with that kind of soccer history,” commented another. “People don’t even understand what this means. We’re talking about four-time world champions,” wrote a third user.
However, there were other fans who attributed La Nazionale’s bad luck to a “curse,” specifically to a long-standing theory about Zinedine Zidane:
“The Zidane curse is real, bro,” one of them claimed. “The curse might be real,” commented a fan. “How much longer do we need to carry this curse?” asked another.
The “Zidane curse” originated after the memorable incident in the 2006 final, where Zinedine was sent off after headbutting Marco Materazzi. Although Italy was crowned champion on that occasion, its subsequent results in World Cups have been disastrous:
- South Africa 2010: Eliminated in the group stage.
- Brazil 2014: Eliminated again in the group stage.
- Russia 2018: Failed to qualify for the tournament after losing 1-0 to Sweden in the playoffs.
- Qatar 2022: Missed the World Cup again after losing 1-0 to North Macedonia.
- North America 2026: Failed to qualify after drawing 1-1 and losing 4-1 on penalties to Bosnia.
Beyond the theories, the truth is that the four-time world champion is going through a deep crisis that has already drawn criticism.
With their absence confirmed for 2026, the Italian national team will have gone 20 years without playing a knockout-round match at a World Cup and 12 years without even attending the tournament.
Read the full article here
