Federico Chiesa Is Not Included In The Italy Squad For October’s World Cup Qualifiers
The Italy squad for October’s World Cup qualifiers has been announced with no place for Federico Chiesa in the roster. Chiesa has rediscovered his best form at club level for Liverpool. However, head coach Gennaro Gattuso has decided not to include the 27-year-old. Instead, the 2006 winner has opted for eight different forwards for the […]
Ben Horlock
Updated on 03 October 2025
The Italy squad for October’s World Cup qualifiers has been announced with no place for Federico Chiesa in the roster.
Chiesa has rediscovered his best form at club level for Liverpool. However, head coach Gennaro Gattuso has decided not to include the 27-year-old.
Instead, the 2006 winner has opted for eight different forwards for the crunch encounters against Estonia and Israel. They include the likes of Mateo Retegui, Riccardo Orsolini and Moise Kean.
Italy Squad For October’s World Cup Qualifiers
Italy’s 2026 World Cup qualification hopes are technically out of their hands. Unless Group I leaders Norway slip up twice in their remaining three games.
With that in mind, head coach Gennaro Gattuso has opted for his strongest available squad. Albeit without Liverpool forward Federico Chiesa.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marco Carnesecchi, Alex Meret, and Guglielmo Vicario have been selected as the four goalkeeping options.
In defense, Gattuso has opted for nine players. They are Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Andrea Cambiaso, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Federico Dimarco, Gianluca Mancini, Diego Coppola, Destiny Udogie and Matteo Gabbia.
The Giovanni Leoni ACL injury has ruled him out. The Azzurri faithful will be hoping he can make a big impression at the next European Championship as the World Cup will surely come too soon for the uncapped star.
In the middle of the pitch, Sandro Tonali, Davide Frattesi, Manuel Locatelli, Nicolo Barella, Bryan Cristante and Hans Nicolussi Caviglia have been included. It’s the latter’s first senior call-up.
Spearheading the attack, Bologna’s Nicolò Cambiaghi also earned his first senior Azzurri call-up. Elsewhere, the likes of Moise Kean, Mateo Retegui, Riccardo Orsolini, Mattia Zaccagni, Giacomo Raspadori, Francesco Pio Esposito and Matteo Politano are all in.
Gattuso's squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers is here! 📋💙#Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/fUT72T2Quz
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) October 3, 2025
Why Is Federico Chiesa Not In The Italy Squad?
Although Liverpool forward Federico Chiesa was tipped to return, he has not been included in the Italy squad for October’s qualifiers against Estonia and Israel.
At the time of publication, head coach Gennaro Gattuso has not revealed why the 27-year-old missed out. Many will be surprised owing to Chiesa’s resurgence this season.
In just 63 minutes of English Premier League action, the right-winger has scored twice. He also assisted both goals in the 2-1 EFL Cup win over Southampton.
Although he has struggled in his time at Anfield, opportunities have presented themselves in 2025-26 with Chiesa looking back to his best. However, Gattuso perhaps feels he is not ready to return to the international set up.
That, and also the fact the 2006 World Cup winner believes he has better options at his disposal. Nonetheless, Chiesa is on the right trajectory to be included for November’s fixtures and potentially the finals. If Italy qualifies.
Ben Horlock
Ben has a long standing devotion to Italian soccer and in particular, Serie A. Ben grew up watching legendary presenter James Richardson deliver the latest news and views with the daily papers and breakfast in hand. Not only does Ben follow Italy's top soccer division, he is an avid follower of all the major European leagues. Ben is an expert on all things Serie A and has produced a number of features and news articles for FootItalia as well as UK-based outlets such as HITC, 90min, GiveMeSport and Betfair. In the US, Ben has been published on ESPN and Sports Illustrated.
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