Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Italy failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after losing to Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-1 on penalties. This followed a 1-1 draw after extra time in the final of the first leg of the European playoffs.
The Zenica Stadium hosted the match, which saw the home side enjoy a slight advantage from the opening minutes, with Bosnia pressing early in search of an early goal. They nearly opened the scoring in the third minute, before goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made a brilliant save three minutes later.
Against the run of play, Moise Kean capitalized on a glaring error by the Bosnian goalkeeper to score the opening goal for Italy in the 15th minute, giving the Azzurri an unexpected advantage.
Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to dominate the match, with Donnarumma delivering a standout performance. Italy’s task became even more difficult when Alessandro Bastoni was sent off in the 42nd minute for a foul that prevented a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
In the second half, the home side intensified their efforts until Haris Tabacovich managed to equalize in the 80th minute, sending the match into extra time.
During extra time, Bosnia maintained their pressure without changing the score, despite their clear advantage in the number of attempts. They had 30 shots compared to only 9 for Italy.
In the penalty shootout, Bosnia and Herzegovina won the match by scoring 4 penalties compared to only one penalty for Italy, scored by Sandro Tonali.
With this result, Italy will miss out on the World Cup finals for the third consecutive time. Their last appearance was in the 2014 edition in Brazil, where they were eliminated in the group stage.
In contrast, the Bosnian and Herzegovinian national team succeeded in securing its place in the World Cup for the second time in its history, after its first participation in the 2014 edition.
