Roberto Mancini has been appointed Italy manager for a second time, just a day after Andrea Pirlo ruled himself out of the running for the job and technical director Paolo Maldini resigned.
Pirlo had been Maldini’s primary candidate to succeed Gennaro Gattuso – who left in April after Italy failed to qualify for a third successive World Cup – but pulled out on Monday following controversy over his commercial ties to Russian betting company Fonbet. Maldini, appointed only on 11 July, stepped down just 16 days later alongside adviser Leonardo, leaving the federation in crisis.
“Mancini returns as Italy boss after Pirlo betting ties trigger resignations of Maldini and Leonardo; Ranieri named technical director.”
“I believed that the best person to become head coach was Roberto Mancini,” FIGC president Giovanni Malago said. “I needed someone with whom I could share the decision on the coach, because without that shared view my reasoning would have carried little weight.”
Claudio Ranieri, who led Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2015-16, will replace Maldini as technical director. Ranieri’s appointment came after Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti both turned down the Italy job.
Mancini, 61, previously managed Italy from 2018 to 2023, winning Euro 2020 – beating England in the final at Wembley – and overseeing a world record 37-game unbeaten run. But he failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after losing to North Macedonia in a play-off and resigned in August 2023. Italy have not featured at a World Cup finals since 2014 and now start their Nations League campaign on 25 September at home to Belgium before travelling to face Turkey three days later.