Roberto Mancini Returns as Azzurri Head Coach Amid FIGC Turmoil

Roberto Mancini is back in charge of Italy. A federation in chaos has turned to the most familiar face it could find.

The FIGC confirmed Mancini’s return as Azzurri head coach in an official social media announcement, ending a fraught search triggered by Gennaro Gattuso’s resignation in April. After weeks of talks with multiple candidates collapsed, the federation circled back to the coach who once led them and now steps in from a brief stint in Qatar with Al-Sadd, following his time in charge of Saudi Arabia.

He is expected to be officially presented on Wednesday, according to Sky Italia. The timing is no coincidence. Time, quite clearly, had run out.

Pirlo Blocked, Maldini and Leonardo Walk

The route to Mancini was anything but smooth.

Andrea Pirlo, at one stage, stood on the brink of the job. Then, at the eleventh hour, FIGC president Giovanni Malagò dramatically vetoed his appointment. The sticking point: Pirlo’s ambassadorial role with a Russian betting company, a detail that instantly turned a near-done deal into a political flashpoint.

The fallout was immediate and brutal. Technical director Paolo Maldini and adviser Leonardo, both marquee appointments brought in to modernise and stabilise the sporting structure, resigned on the spot. Sixteen days in the building, and out. Their departure laid bare the fractures at the top of Italian football, leaving the FIGC scrambling for authority and direction just as the national team needed clarity.

With internal trust shaken and the clock ticking, the federation needed a name that could steady the room as much as the dressing room. Mancini, suddenly, was not just an option. He was the solution.

Malagò Turns to a Proven Operator

Facing the media on Tuesday, Malagò spelled out why he had gone back to Mancini, a coach whose profile and experience carry instant weight in Italian football.

“Time was running out and I thought the right person to be coach was Roberto Mancini. He's the best possible choice,” he said, underlining both the urgency and the calculation behind the move.

Malagò also moved to reshape the technical structure around the new coach. The role of technical director, he insisted, remains central, and an amendment to the FIGC statute has opened the way for an additional figure to operate at the top of Club Italia.

That figure is Claudio Ranieri.

The legendary former Leicester City manager has agreed to come in as technical director, with Malagò revealing that Ranieri had just signed his commitment “a few minutes ago.” For a federation rocked by resignations, the double act of Mancini on the bench and Ranieri upstairs offers gravitas, experience, and a certain reassuring familiarity.

Malagò was clear: he wanted someone to share and endorse the choice of Mancini. Ranieri is that man.

A Familiar Face, a New Storm

Mancini returns to an Italy setup that looks very different from the one he first inherited, yet the task feels strikingly similar: restore order, rebuild belief, and navigate a federation wrestling with its own identity.

He arrives free of club commitments after leaving Al-Sadd last month, ready to throw himself back into the international arena. The Azzurri, meanwhile, step into a new chapter with a coach they know, a technical director with a history of defying odds, and a president who has just taken the most high-stakes gamble of his tenure.

The search for a head coach exposed deep cracks inside the FIGC. Now the question is simple: can Mancini and Ranieri turn a crisis appointment into a new era, or will this be remembered as the moment Italian football doubled down on the past in fear of the future?