Paolo Maldini has resigned as FIGC technical director, and Leonardo has stepped down as his advisor, ending their rebuild of Italy’s national team setup just 16 days after they were appointed. The pair informed FIGC president Giovanni Malagò of their decision on Monday, according to Sky Sports, after the federation ruled out Andrea Pirlo as Italy’s next head coach over his commercial ties to Russian bookmaker Fonbet.
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Maldini was appointed technical director and president of Club Italia on 11 July, with Leonardo joining as his advisor, as Malagò tried to rebuild the Azzurri after a third straight missed World Cup. Goal.com reports that one of Maldini’s first jobs was finding a successor to Gennaro Gattuso, who left the head coach post after Italy’s playoff defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Instead of appointing a coach, Maldini and Leonardo are now the ones who need replacing.
Pirlo had been Maldini’s choice for the job after Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti both turned it down, according to Sky Sports. The 47-year-old is a global ambassador for Fonbet, a sponsorship that drew objections from Italian officials given the betting firm’s Russian ownership and the war in Ukraine. Pirlo said in a statement that he learned on Sunday he was no longer under consideration, and defended the partnership as purely commercial and compliant with the law in every country where he has worked. Malagò blocked the appointment anyway. Maldini and Leonardo reportedly pushed for Thiago Motta as the alternative, while Malagò favoured Roberto Mancini — and that disagreement is what finished the project.
Maldini and Leonardo’s 16-day tenure is one of the shortest in FIGC history — and the fifth Italy departure in four months.
The exits pile onto a run of instability that started in April, when FIGC president Gabriele Gravina and delegation chief Gianluigi Buffon both resigned within a day of Italy’s playoff loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina, a defeat that meant a fourth World Cup winner missing three straight tournaments for the first time. Malagò won the election to succeed Gravina and moved fast to install Maldini, hoping a former Milan captain with genuine footballing authority could restore some credibility to the federation. Three World Cups missed in a row was supposed to be the bottom for Italian football. Sixteen days into the rebuild, it found a new one.
Roberto Mancini, who coached Italy to the Euro 2020 title before resigning in August 2023, is now the frontrunner for the head coach vacancy, according to Sky Sports. Giorgio Chiellini, Giuseppe Bergomi and Claudio Ranieri are all under consideration to replace Maldini as technical director, while Antonio Conte remains an outside option for the bench.
Roberto Mancini, who won Euro 2020 with Italy, is now the favourite to return as head coach after Maldini’s exit.
Giorgio Chiellini, Giuseppe Bergomi and Claudio Ranieri are the three names under consideration for the vacant technical director post.
Italy have lost a federation president, a delegation chief, a head coach, a technical director and an advisor in the space of four months.
Malagò now has to decide whether to appoint a technical director before a head coach or push ahead on both fronts at once, with qualifying for the 2030 World Cup the clock every decision is being made against.
The FIGC Federal Council meets Tuesday at 12:00 CET, with Malagò expected to address the resignations and the search for both a technical director and a head coach for the first time since the news broke.
