Roberto Mancini is set to return for a second spell as Italy coach, according to multiple reports, with Claudio Ranieri also poised to join the national team set-up.
Having been turned down by Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) was poised to appoint former Azzurri midfielder Andrea Pirlo.
However, the deal for him to take over fell apart due to his association with a Russian sports betting platform, which led to significant political pressure on FIGC president Giovanni Malago to block his appointment.
Pirlo confirmed in a statement that he was informed on Sunday that he was no longer in the running for the job.
The 2006 World Cup winner is under contract with Dubai club United FC while also serving as a global brand ambassador for Russian betting provider Fonbet.
He stressed that the collaboration was “exclusively commercial and sporting in nature” – but after reviewing the contract documents, the FIGC leadership and Malago reached a different conclusion.
That led to Paolo Maldini stepping down as FIGC technical director just 16 days into his role.
Now, as the FIGC seeks to draw a line under the farce, it has looked to Mancini to lead the task of turning around the Azzurri’s fortunes following their latest World Cup failure.
Meanwhile Ranieri is said to be set to replace Maldini as technical director. Ranieri turned down the chance to become coach last June before Italy appointed Gennaro Gattuso. The 74-year-old’s last job in football was as a special advisor to Roma, a position he left in April, and he will assume a key position in the FIGC hierarchy with a coaching career that took him to 20 different stops seemingly at an end.
Mancini, who left his role as coach of Qatari side Al-Sadd earlier this year, led Italy to glory at Euro 2020 before a five-year spell in charge came to an end in 2023.
He inherits a team that came agonisingly close to ending Italy’s World Cup absence, with a penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina in their UEFA qualifying play-off final denying them a spot in the finals in North America.
Having missed out on two World Cups and exited Euro 2024 in the last 16 following their Wembley penalty shootout defeat of England, Italy have not won a knockout game at a major tournament since Mancini guided them to a second European Championship title in 2021.
Mancini does not have an easy start to his bid to turn things around, as his first game will come against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League on September 25 before the Azzurri then face Turkey and France in the same competition in an extended international break.
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