Mancini Returns as Italy Coach After Third World Cup Fail — SkimNews
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- Roberto Mancini returns as Italy head coach for a second spell, five years after guiding the Azzurri to Euro 2020 glory, following the national team's failure to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
- Italy's unprecedented third straight World Cup absence — failing to reach even the expanded 48-team tournament — triggered the resignations of head coach Gennaro Gattuso, Italian FA president Gabriele Gravina, and Gianluigi Buffon as the team's head of delegation.
- Italian football's youth pipeline has stagnated: between 2020 and 2025, the country produced just 413 football exports (24th globally, behind the US, Japan, and Russia), while the other four big-five European leagues each exported over 1,000 players.
- Serie A gave just 1.9% of minutes to U21-eligible players in 2025 — the second-lowest share among the world's top 50 leagues — while Italy had only one capped player under 24 (Inter forward Pio Esposito) between June 2025 and February 2026, compared to a dozen for England.
- Mancini's first 34-player squad back includes nine uncapped players and 11 under-23, featuring 18-year-old Borussia Dortmund striker Samuele Inacio, Chelsea-bound defender Honest Ahanor (now at Crystal Palace), Brentford's Michael Kayode, Nürnberg's Ali Zoma, and Sporting CP's Issa Doumbia.
- Italy faces Belgium, Turkey, and France in a competitive Nations League Group A as Mancini begins his second spell at the helm.
Why it matters: Mancini's second spell follows Italy's three straight World Cup misses and a youth pipeline that produced just 413 exports from 2020-2025 — fewer than any other big-five European league. With only one capped Italian under 24 in the past year (vs. England's dozen) and a Nations League group against Belgium, Turkey, and France, there's no margin for error.
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