Giovanni Malagò elected president of the crisis-laden Italian soccer federation
A journalist stands at the entrance of the FIGC Italian Soccer Federation, where a logo with four stars (one for each World Cup won) is seen partly in the shade, in Rome, on Nov. 14, 2017. Credit: AP/Alessandra Tarantino
ROME — Giovanni Malagò, who led the Milan Cortina Olympics organizing committee, has been elected president of the crisis-laden Italian soccer federation.
Malagò received 68.58% of the votes in Monday’s election, easily beating former federation president Giancarlo Abete, who received 29.17% of the votes and was the only other candidate.
Malagò’s first big order of business will be hiring a new coach for Italy’s national team. Gennaro Gattuso left the job after the Azzurri failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
The top candidates are considered to be two former Italy coaches: Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte.
Mancini coached Italy to the European Championship title in 2021 then failed to get the Azzurri to the next year’s World Cup before bolting to take over Saudi Arabia’s national team. He left Saudi Arabia in 2024 and also recently left Al-Sadd in Qatar.
Conte coached Italy at the 2016 European Championship and recently stepped down at Napoli.
Before directing this year's Winter Olympics, Malagò was previously president of the Italian Olympic Committee and he remains an IOC member. He replaces Gabriele Gravina, who resigned after Italy lost a World Cup qualifying playoff to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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