Kimmich: ‘Not happy’ with Italy out of 2026 World Cup

Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich admits he’s ‘not happy’ with Italy’s World Cup play-off elimination: ‘But you won the European Championship, you can’t forget it.’

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Bayern Munich midfielder Kimmich replied to a question from Sky Sport Italia about the state of Italian football.

Kimmich tells Italy: ‘Don’t forget’ about the Euros

Bayern Munich eliminated Atalanta in the Champions League Round of 16 and will play away at Real Madrid in the quarter-finals tonight.

“Italy have missed out on three World Cups, but in between, you won a European Championship,” Kimmich said via TMW.

“You can’t forget it, we haven’t won it,” he continued.

“In the last decade, we [Germany] have only won one Confederations Cup. Perhaps I’m not the right person to answer this, but obviously, I always hope you play in the World Cup and the Euros. Italy is a great country, with excellent players who I’d love to see at a World Cup, so I’m not happy with how it went.”

Italy have last played in the World Cup in 2014 and have not played a knockout game in the competition since 2006, when they went on to win the title, beating France in the final on penalties.

Brazil, with five titles, is the only country to have won more World Cups than Italy and Germany, both of which have lifted the coveted trophy four times in their history.

Following Italy’s World Cup play-off Final defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina last week, both FIGC President Gabriele Gravina and Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso have resigned.