Seven Italy players unavailable through injury ahead of 2026 World Cup play-offs

Gennaro Gattuso and his staff are preparing for the crucial World Cup play-off campaign coming up at the end of March, but the latest news regarding Marco Verratti means that Italy now have seven players currently unavailable through injury. 

Which Italy players are currently unavailable through injury?

Italy will take on Northern Ireland in Bergamo in the World Cup play-off semi-final on March 26, and the winner of that tie will go on to face either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away from home in the final on March 31: A one-off decider for a spot in the final tournament. 

Should the Azzurri fail to win both matches, they will miss out on the World Cup for the third consecutive tournament cycle. 

To make matters even more complicated for Gattuso and his staff, the last international break was four months ago, in November, and there has not been an opportunity for the squad to get together and train as a team since then. 

Gattuso also has seven players who might have been included in the play-off squad currently unavailable through injury. They are the aforementioned Verratti, Giovanni Leoni, Matteo Gabbia, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Destiny Udogie, Nicolo Rovella and Antonio Vergara. 

There had also been brief concerns over Alessandro Bastoni and Riccardo Calafiori over the last week, but Cristian Chivu has confirmed that the Inter man suffered a knock and is not expected to be unavailable long-term, while the Arsenal defender has already returned to training with his teammates. 

There is still a chance that Di Lorenzo, who has 53 caps to his name, returns in time for the play-offs. Reports in the UK indicate that Udogie could potentially return to action for Tottenham before the international break as well. It remains to be seen whether either will be called up. 

Gabbia, Leoni, Rovella, Verratti and Vergara are not expected to return in time for the play-offs, though.