FIGC president Tavecchio resigns after Italy misses 2018 World Cup

Carlo Tavecchio will be joining Gian Piero Ventura in the unemployment line.

Tavecchio resigned Monday as president of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio, one week after Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup by virtue of a 1-0 defeat on aggregate to Sweden. Ventura was sacked as the Azzurri's manager two days after the second leg, in which a scoreless draw was played out at Stadio San Siro.

"I have tendered my resignation, and as a mere political act, I have also asked the advisory board to do the same, but nobody did, so I was alone," Tavecchio said at a news conference, according to ESPN FC's Ben Gladwell. "In last Wednesday's meeting, I felt that something had changed, but when today I got the feeling that I, with 18 years of experience, was no longer being fully backed, I did not hesitate for an instant. I resigned and I asked for the advisory board to resign."

Tavecchio decided to resign at "11:45," and proceeded to refer to himself in the third person, saying: "Carlo Tavecchio is paying because of Ventura. We have missed out on qualification for a World Cup and Carlo Tavecchio is the most desperately disappointed for this, not as president but as a person. If that ball that hit the post had gone in, Carlo Tavecchio would be a hero? No, I would be the same. But these politics cannot go on like this. Reforms cannot be done on a football field.

"Excuse me, this is not just a rant. I've always looked people in their face, in good and in bad. I am here and, if we had scored a goal, Carlo Tavecchio was a big man. I am still 1.71 metres tall. Football has given me a lot, the Lega Dilettanti has given me a lot, and my team here have given me even more. Two hundred and forty people expect to meet me on Saturday and they will all be crying."

Tavecchio's resignation marked a turnaround from Wednesday, when, during a meeting, he informed FIGC representatives he was unwilling to relinquish his mandate and will instead offer himself to a federal council, where members would be called upon to express themselves.

Tavecchio's presidency was marred by controversy from the beginning. He was elected FIGC president in August 2014 amid accusations of racism, as he caused an outcry in the same month by suggesting Serie A was flooded with banana-eating footballers, pointing to a fictitious player named Opti Poba.