"The World Cup curse," said the front page of Italy's main daily Corriere della Sera, calling for a rebuilding of a movement that produced some of the game's greatest players but has won just one match at the finals since lifting the trophy in 2006.

Headlines on La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, the country's two main sports newspapers, both said "We're all staying at home," in reference to yet another summer without a World Cup for the four-time champions.

Fans in Rome were left stunned after Italy fell to a 4-1 penalty shootout defeat by Bosnia on Tuesday following a 1-1 draw, the third playoff defeat in a row after those against Sweden and North Macedonia.

"Everything went badly from the start of the match. The team wasn't good, players out of form coming in and playing (anyway)… it makes no sense. Honestly, I'm shocked," said Davide Caldaretta, who watched the game at a city pub.

The 'Azzurri', as the team is known, last qualified for the World Cup finals in 2014, which coincided with Bosnia's only previous appearance at the tournament. The Balkan team will now play in Group B joining co-hosts Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.

"Either something is wrong with the youth system or it doesn't make sense," said fan Edoardo Settembre.

Italy went down to 10 men in the 42nd minute with Alessandro Bastoni punished for a late last-man tackle, a key turning point with Italy leading at the time.

"(We feel) really upset and disappointed. Even when you're let down you always hold out hope. And this is the third time in a row," said Melanie Cardillo.

Gabriele Gravina, the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), told reporters that Gennaro Gattuso has been asked to stay on as coach of the national team after Tuesday's play-off defeat.

"I've asked him to stay and asked (Gianluigi) Buffon to stay in charge of the football side," Gabriele Gravina, president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), told reporters.

Buffon has a role within the FIGC which involves overseeing the senior and youth national teams, and he said he would wait until the end of the current season in June before making a decision on his future.

Asked whether he would accept Gravina's invitation to stay, Gattuso repeated what he said to Italian broadcaster RAI by saying it "wasn't important".

"It's really painful. I would have given anything today, I would have given up years of my life, money, for us to achieve our goal," said Gattuso.

A World Cup winner as a player in 2006, Gattuso was hired in June last year to replace the sacked Luciano Spalletti, with a contract which expires after the World Cup.

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