Why it’s difficult for Italy to get extra time for World Cup play-off preparation

Italy know they must prepare for the 2026 World Cup play-offs in March, but attempts to give Gennaro Gattuso and the squad more time to get ready look doomed to failure.

The Nazionale have won six out of seven games in Group I, but even if they make it seven by defeating Norway at San Siro on Sunday, it would not be enough to secure top spot.

This is because Norway have a huge advantage in goal difference, so a 9-0 victory would be required to turn that around.

It’s therefore going to require the play-offs, with a semi-final on Italian soil on March 26, then a Final on March 31, if they want to qualify for the World Cup.

Gattuso will have very little time to prepare for those decisive clashes, as there isn’t another break for international duty due until March 23.

There had been some suggestions that Serie A Week 30 could potentially be postponed until after the play-offs rather than on the weekend of March 21-22.

However, FIGC President Gabriele Gravina declared that “unrealistic” looking at the packed fixture list for club competition.

Along with Serie A, there are also the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League Round of 16 ties between March 17 and 19.

Another possibility is for there to be an extra ‘stage’ at the Coverciano training ground so the squad could work with Gattuso for two days on February 9 and 10, just to break up the huge gap from November 2025 to March 2026.

That won’t be an easy sell either, considering from February 4 to 11 there are the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, with the semi-final scheduled for around March 4.

The situation will be clearer after January when they know which teams will be involved in all of these tournaments.

Italy faltered during the play-offs and missed the World Cup in both 2018 and 2022.