Roberto Mancini Returns as Azzurri Head Coach Amid FIGC Turmoil

Roberto Mancini is back in charge of Italy. Not after a grand plan. After a scramble.

The FIGC confirmed on social media that Mancini will return as Azzurri head coach, with Sky Italia reporting his official presentation is set for Wednesday. He steps in following Gennaro Gattuso’s resignation in April, ending a chaotic search that exposed deep fractures inside the federation.

Mancini arrives fresh from a brief spell with Qatari side Al-Sadd and a stint in charge of Saudi Arabia, ready to lead the national team for a second time. The decision to recall him was not the original blueprint. It was the solution when everything else fell apart.

Pirlo Blocked, Maldini and Leonardo Walk

The turning point came at the eleventh hour. Andrea Pirlo was on the brink of taking the job. Then the president stepped in.

FIGC president Giovanni Malago dramatically blocked Pirlo’s appointment over the former midfielder’s ambassadorial role with a Russian betting company. The late veto detonated inside the corridors of power. Technical director Paolo Maldini and adviser Leonardo resigned on the spot, both walking away after just 16 days in their posts.

What had started as a fresh technical project collapsed in a single decision. With the bench still empty and the hierarchy shaken, time became the enemy.

Malago Turns to a Familiar Winner

Under pressure and with options dwindling, Malago moved for the most reliable name left on the board.

“Time was running out and I thought the right person to be coach was Roberto Mancini. He's the best possible choice,” he told reporters on Tuesday, setting out the logic of a return rather than a revolution.

The federation had already explored several primary targets, only to see negotiations stall or hit dead ends. Mancini, recently free after leaving Al-Sadd, offered something the FIGC badly needed: experience, authority, and a track record with the Azzurri badge.

This was not just about a coach, though. It was about rebuilding the entire technical structure.

Ranieri Joins as Technical Director

To steady that structure, Malago moved for another heavyweight. Claudio Ranieri, the legendary former Leicester City boss, has agreed to come in as technical director.

Malago stressed that the role remains central to the project: “The role of technical director, not to be confused with other roles, has not disappeared. This is precisely why we approved an amendment to the statute that also makes another person possible president of Club Italia. I needed someone to share the choice of Roberto Mancini as coach, and that person is Claudio Ranieri, who signed his commitment a few minutes ago.”

Ranieri’s arrival, backed by a specific amendment to the FIGC statute, underlines how far the federation was willing to go to rebuild credibility after the Pirlo fiasco and the resignations of Maldini and Leonardo.

Mancini and Ranieri. Two seasoned managers, two very different profiles, now tied to the same rescue mission. The question is no longer who leads Italy. It’s whether this hastily rebuilt power structure can hold when the pressure of the next qualifying campaign hits.