"As European Champions, The Italian National Team Should Automatically Escape To The World Cup," Mancini Said

JAKARTA - The coach of the Italian national team, Roberto Mancini, assessed that his team should automatically qualify for the 2022 World Cup. This is because Gli Azzurri is the winner of Europe.

The Italian national team missed the 2022 World Cup after losing to North Macedonia in the semifinals of last March. This is the second time Italy have missed the quadrennial football grand party.

Previously, they also failed to penetrate Russia's 2018 World Cup. Two years later, Leonardo Bonucci and his friends won Euro 2020.

As the Euro champion, Mancini thinks the Azzurri should not go through the qualifying process for the Qatar World Cup.

"Not only European champions but also champions on every continent," Mancini said in an interview with Corriere Della Sera. "I say this is for the good of football."

"Similarly, who won the title in the previous edition must always be involved. It used to be like this, first."

"Football doesn't just make good decisions for itself," he continued.

Mancini himself finally decided to stay with his position. He wants revenge by bringing his team through to the next World Cup.

"Right now we can't look far forward, the 2026 World Cup is still far away. Now we have to focus on the Nations League Finals and Euro qualifiers," said the former Inter Milan and Lazio coach.

"I want to keep chasing the World Cup, but nothing is certain in football and things can still change. We want to go to the next World Cup and hopefully win it," he concluded.