Gravina wants to postpone Serie A to help Italy in World Cup play-offs

Reports on Thursday suggest that FIGC President Gabriele Gravina is keen to postpone the 30th round of Serie A fixtures in order to help Gennaro Gattuso and the Italy national team prepare for their inevitable World Cup qualification play-off matches. 

Italy have a 100% win record under new head coach Gennaro Gattuso following 3-1 and 3-0 wins over Estonia and Israel during the October international break, but currently sit in second place behind Norway in qualification Group I. 

Only teams that finish at the top of the groups will qualify directly for the final 2026 World Cup tournament. Those that finish in second will have to settle for a spot in the play-offs. 

As things stand, Italy have 15 points from six matches, but are unlikely to catch Norway, who boast a perfect record of 18 points from their six matches, and are also storming ahead on goal difference with just two matches left to play. 

The situation leaves Italy looking at the inevitable prospect of another World Cup play-off campaign. Italy have gone down this route for the last two World Cup cycles, and have failed to qualify on both occasions. 

With this in mind, Gravina is reportedly keen to do anything he can to help Gattuso and the Italy national team prepare as best as possible for the World Cup play-offs, scheduled for March 2026. 

According to reports from Corriere dello Sport, the FIGC chief is keen to postpone the 30th round of Serie A fixtures, scheduled for March 21 and March 22, as that would leave Gattuso with just four days and only three training sessions before the play-offs kick-off, scheduled for March 26. 

There will also be Champions League round of 16 matches in the week leading up to the World Cup play-offs. 

Gravina had, unsuccessfully, tried to do the same four years ago, when Italy were tasked with qualifying for the World Cup via the play-offs. Roberto Mancini had just one training session to prepare his players for the semi-finals, and ended up crashing out to North Macedonia in humiliating circumstances. 

According to Corriere dello Sport, Gravina plans to bring up the possibility of postponing the 30th round of Serie A fixtures with the league council by February at the latest.

At that point, it will be clear which Italian sides are involved in the Champions League knock-outs, and how feasible it might be to push back the league schedule in order to help the national team.