Pirlo Russia Ties Kill Italy Coach Bid; Mancini Returns
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- Italy failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup earlier in 2026, triggering dismissals of manager Gennaro Gattuso, FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, and delegation chief Gianluigi Buffon.
- New FIGC president Giovanni Malago (elected June 22) appointed Paolo Maldini and Leonardo to lead the rebuild; their entire cycle lasted just 17 days.
- Maldini and Leonardo courted Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti — both declined — before proposing 2006 World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo as head coach.
- Pirlo's candidacy collapsed over his commercial role as global ambassador for Russian betting company Fonbet, drawing political opposition amid strained Italy-Russia relations since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- After Maldini and Leonardo resigned in protest, Malago appointed Roberto Mancini as head coach and Claudio Ranieri as technical director — Mancini returning three years after his 2023 resignation to take the Saudi Arabia job.
- Mancini's first stint (2018–2023) ended with a Euro 2020 title but a shocking 2022 World Cup qualifying playoff loss to North Macedonia; the article contrasts Italy's turmoil with Germany landing Jurgen Klopp and France securing Zinedine Zidane.
Why it matters: Italy's third straight World Cup absence has triggered a full institutional reset — president, sporting directors, and head coach all changed within weeks — yet the return of a coach whose first tenure ended in the very failure this cycle is meant to fix signals continuity over change. The contrast with Germany and France, who secured elite coaches (Klopp, Zidane) in the same window, frames Italy's crisis as structural rather than merely sporting.
