With its four World Cup titles, second only to Brazil, Italy is a football powerhouse. However, the first two awards won in 1934 and 1934 did not trigger massive popular enthusiasm. Football was, at the time, the distinctive practice of the urban middle classes in a largely rural country, which was above all passionate about cycling. In 1966, a catastrophic display at the England World Cup revealed the new social and political relevance of football. The results of La Nazionale are like a barometer of the health of the whole country and involve the whole of the social body. Italy only acknowledges as rivals those nations considered on par at the level of footballing prowess. The elimination of the qualifiers for Russia World Cup 2018 was therefore lived by the country as a trauma and prompted ample debate in which the sporting failure was explained in political terms.