Is football still No 1 in Italy? Azzurri face World Cup play-off amid other sports’ success

Italy is coming off a record performance at the Winter Olympics. Kimi Antonelli just became the second youngest driver at 19 to win a Formula 1 race and is considered The Next Big Thing in auto racing.

The Azzurri rugby squad beat England for the first time in the Six Nations.

Also, Jannik Sinner is back to winning ways on the tennis court. Italy’s men and women are the world champions in volleyball.

Even the country’s unheralded baseball and cricket teams have broken barriers recently.

Yet there is one big team from Italy that continues to struggle: the once-dominant men’s football team are at risk of failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

The four-time World Cup champion need to beat Northern Ireland in the play-offs next Thursday in Bergamo and then either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away to avoid going at least 16 years without even playing a match at football’s biggest event.

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