Roberto Mancini returns to the Italy bench after chaotic search for a head coach
Roberto Mancini will once again take charge of the Italian national football team, almost three years after the end of his first tenure, during which he led Italy to the European title. The president of the Italian Football Federation, FIGC, Giovanni Malagò, informed the members of the Federal Council on 28 July 2026 that Mancini was his choice for the new head coach. According to information reported during the day by ANSA and several Italian media outlets, talks with the 61-year-old coach have entered their final stage, while the signing of the contract and the official presentation are still awaited. The decision therefore appears settled in both political and sporting terms, but the formal appointment procedure has not yet been fully completed.
Mancini's return comes after an exceptionally unstable period at the top of Italian football. The search for Gennaro Gattuso's successor turned into a series of failed negotiations, public disagreements and personnel departures. Andrea Pirlo came very close to taking charge of the national team, but his candidacy collapsed following controversy related to a business engagement with the Russian betting company Fonbet. Shortly afterwards, Paolo Maldini and Leonardo left their positions as FIGC technical director and adviser, just over two weeks after being presented as key figures in the new project.
Malagò opted for a familiar solution
At the Federal Council meeting, Malagò announced that he had chosen Mancini and that he was discussing the final details of their cooperation with him. Such a decision represents a sudden turn towards a coach who knows the national-team system, the players, the pressure of the Italian public and the working methods at the national training centre in Coverciano. After an attempt to launch a completely new cycle with a different management structure, FIGC opted for a man whose previous tenure simultaneously produced Italy's greatest success in roughly the past two decades and one of the biggest disappointments in the national team's recent history.
According to media reports, the Federation considered several prominent candidates in the preceding weeks. Pep Guardiola was among the most ambitious options, but no agreement was reached, while Carlo Ancelotti remained committed to the Brazilian project. Antonio Conte was also mentioned in the Italian media, but after the collapse of negotiations with Pirlo, Malagò concluded that Mancini offered the fastest route towards stabilisation. His selection reduces the time required to become familiar with the environment, but at the same time reopens questions about the reasons for his departure in 2023 and whether his second tenure can end more successfully than the closing stages of the first.
FIGC's official announcement is expected after the contractual details have been finalised. Until then, it is more accurate to speak of an agreed return and a political decision by the Federation president than of a fully completed appointment. Italian media also report that Claudio Ranieri could assume an important technical role in the new structure, but that possibility had not been officially confirmed by the time this article was completed. Following the departures of Maldini and Leonardo, FIGC must simultaneously resolve the question of the head coach and redefine who will lead the long-term sporting strategy of all national-team categories.
From the European title to a missed World Cup
Mancini first took charge of Italy in May 2018, after the national team had failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia. He gradually introduced technically skilled midfielders into the team, increased the intensity of play without the ball and built a system based on possession, movement and high pressing. The result was a run of 37 matches without defeat between October 2018 and September 2021, which FIGC lists as a national-team record. During that period, Italy once again became one of Europe's most stable teams and restored public belief following the failure in qualification for the 2018 World Cup.
The peak of that cycle came on 11 July 2021 at Wembley in London. Italy defeated England on penalties in the European Championship final and won its second continental title. UEFA records that the match finished 1:1 after extra time, with the Italian team triumphing 3:2 in the shootout. Mancini was then the symbol of the national team's revival: he combined an experienced defensive core with a creative midfield and an attacking approach that differed from the stereotypical image of Italian football.
However, after Wembley, the results became significantly more inconsistent. Italy failed to qualify directly for the 2022 World Cup and then suffered a sensational defeat to North Macedonia in the play-offs. After the end of Mancini's first tenure, FIGC announced that he had led the national team in 61 matches, recording 37 victories, 15 draws and nine defeats. His overall record remained strong, but the failure in the battle for Qatar permanently changed the assessment of that period.
Mancini resigned in August 2023, and FIGC stated at the time that the Federation had received his decision and would seek a new option. The departure was sudden and caused tensions between the coach and the Federation's leadership at the time. In his second tenure, it will therefore not be enough to rely on the emotional capital from 2021. He will have to build trust through results, clear relations with the new administration and a convincing development plan for a team that has since suffered another major qualification failure.
Italy have missed three consecutive World Cups
The main reason for the urgency of the entire process is the fact that the four-time world champions have failed to qualify for three consecutive final tournaments. After missing the 2018 and 2022 editions, Italy were also left without a place at the 2026 World Cup. Following the European play-offs, FIFA highlighted that Italy had become the first former world champions to miss three consecutive editions of the tournament. The team led by Gennaro Gattuso lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica after a penalty shootout, leaving them outside football's biggest global stage once again.
Gattuso and FIGC mutually terminated their contract on 3 April 2026, as the Federation confirmed in an official statement. This was followed by a change at the head of the organisation: Giovanni Malagò was elected FIGC president on 22 June 2026 and immediately announced the reconstruction of the technical sector. Paolo Maldini was appointed technical director and president of the Club Italia project, while Leonardo became an adviser. FIGC stressed at the time that their four-year mandate was intended to cover the entire development pathway, from the youth categories to the senior national team, with the 2028 European Championship as the first major objective and the 2030 World Cup as the final point of the cycle.
That project effectively collapsed before it had even begun. Maldini and Leonardo supported Andrea Pirlo's candidacy after it became clear that Guardiola was unavailable, but the appointment process was halted. According to Reuters and ANSA, Pirlo's commercial links with Fonbet and the political sensitivity of business cooperation with a Russian company were at the centre of the dispute. Pirlo said that his relationship with the company was exclusively commercial and sporting in nature, but his candidacy could no longer be separated from the wider controversy.
Maldini and Leonardo subsequently decided to leave the Federation, and their departure further highlighted the differences in decision-making within the new administration. Only a few days earlier, Malagò had publicly spoken about complete agreement with them and the joint adoption of all major decisions. The collapse of that structure demonstrated how closely the head-coach selection process was connected to the struggle over authority, responsibility and the direction of the entire Italian national-team system. Mancini's return is therefore not merely a coaching decision, but also an attempt to bring an institutional crisis to a rapid conclusion.
The first task will be to re-establish the team's identity
Mancini takes charge of the national team at a moment when Italy need not only a new system of play, but also a clear hierarchy. Some players from the European Championship-winning team of 2021 have ended their international careers or no longer have the role they once held, while the younger generation has not yet formed a stable core. The new head coach will have to decide whether he wants to return to the playing model used during the first part of his previous tenure or adapt his approach to the profile of the footballers now available to him.
His earlier success was based on precisely allocated roles, a technically accomplished midfield and the team's ability to attack through several areas of the pitch. Today's Italy must find reliable solutions in attack, increase the consistency of their performances and reduce their dependence on short periods of good form. It will be equally important to restore competitive confidence in matches played under the greatest pressure. Three consecutively missed World Cups are not the result of one bad day, but a sign of a long-standing problem in converting the potential of domestic football into stable value for the national team.
Mancini will also have to establish high-quality cooperation with the clubs, whose schedules, interests and development decisions directly affect the national team. A national-team head coach has very little time for training, making player monitoring, communication with club coaches and consistent squad selection crucial. During his first tenure, he demonstrated a willingness to call up younger and less established footballers, but the second cycle comes with considerably less tolerance for experimentation without results.
Nations League as the first test, Euro 2028 as the major objective
The first competitive appearances of the new coaching staff are expected to come in the UEFA Nations League. FIGC has confirmed that Italy will play France in Milan on 12 November 2026, in their final home match of the League A group. That encounter will not determine the success of the new cycle on its own, but it will offer an early indication of Mancini's personnel decisions, tactical priorities and ability to stabilise the team within a short period.
The medium-term objective will be the 2028 European Championship. Italy must qualify for the tournament and become competitive against Europe's best national teams once again, but deeper reform is also expected from the new leadership. After taking charge of FIGC, Malagò spoke about rebuilding the system from the ground up and connecting the senior team with the younger categories. The departures of Maldini and Leonardo have left that plan without its originally intended leaders, meaning the Federation will have to explain who will assume long-term responsibility for talent development and the coordination of the national-team categories.
The relationship between short-term results and long-term renewal will be the most difficult part of Mancini's second tenure. The Italian public expects quick victories, but three consecutive failures in World Cup qualification demonstrate that a change of head coach alone is not enough. More stable selection criteria, better links between the youth and senior national teams, clear sporting management and an environment in which key decisions are not changed after only a few days are required.
A return carrying both hope and great risk
For FIGC, Mancini is a logical choice because he is the last coach to win a major trophy with Italy and because he can take charge of the team immediately without a long adaptation period. For Mancini himself, the return represents an opportunity to change the final impression of his first tenure and reconnect with the greatest achievement of his coaching career at international level. However, his second tenure will almost certainly not come with the initial breadth of opportunity and patience that he had in 2018, when he arrived after one missed World Cup and was given room for gradual reconstruction.
He now arrives after three consecutive absences from the World Cup, amid a management crisis and following a publicly failed head-coach selection process. Every squad decision, every result and every relationship with the top of the Federation will be viewed through the experience of previous failures. Mancini's greatest advantage will be his familiarity with the environment, but that same closeness means that he will not be able to present himself as an entirely new figure unburdened by the past.
The return therefore brings symbolic security, but no guarantee of success. Italy are getting a head coach who has already proven that he can build a winning team, but also a coach whose previous cycle showed how quickly balance can be lost. After the contract is signed and the official presentation takes place, the considerably more difficult part of the work will begin: turning a decision made amid chaos into a project capable of returning Italy to major tournaments and restoring the credibility of one of the world's most successful national football teams.
Sources:
- FIGC – official information on Giovanni Malagò's election as president of the Federation and the beginning of his term (link)
- FIGC – appointment of Paolo Maldini as technical director and Leonardo as adviser, along with a description of the planned four-year project (link)
- ANSA – report on the departures of Maldini and Leonardo following the failed appointment of Andrea Pirlo (link)
- Reuters / Channel News Asia – confirmation of the context surrounding the resignations and the dispute over Pirlo's candidacy (link)
- Corriere dello Sport / ANSA – announcement of Malagò's decision for Mancini to become Italy's new head coach (link)
- FIFA – analysis of Italy's third consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup (link)
- FIGC – official report on the defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 2026 World Cup play-offs (link)
- FIGC – official confirmation of the mutual termination of the contract with Gennaro Gattuso (link)
- FIGC – statistical overview of Mancini's first tenure with the Italian national team (link)
- UEFA – official information on the Euro 2020 final between Italy and England (link)
- FIGC – confirmation of the date of the Nations League match between Italy and France on 12 November 2026 in Milan (link)