By Amaechi Agbo
Former Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini has been appointed Italy manager for a second time – just a day after Andrea Pirlo ruled himself out of the running for the job and technical director Paolo Maldini resigned.
Gennaro Gattuso left his role as Italy boss in April after the Azzurri failed to qualify for a third successive World Cup.
Pirlo looked set to take over but on Monday pulled out following controversy over his ties to a Russian betting company.
“I believed that the best person to become head coach was Roberto Mancini,” said Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Giovanni Malago.
Claudio Ranieri, who led Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2015-16, will replace Maldini as technical director.
Maldini, who was appointed to the role two weeks ago, and adviser Leonardo resigned following the decision not to appoint Pirlo.
According to reports, former Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola and the current Brazil coach, Carlo Ancelotti were both approached by the FIGC about the Italy job before Pirlo.
Mancini, 61, previously managed Italy from 2018 until 2023 and won Euro 2020 – beating England in the final at Wembley.
He led the Azzurri to a world record 37-game unbeaten run, but failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup – losing to North Macedonia in a play-off – and resigned in August 2023.
Another World Cup play-off failure for Italy earlier this year meant they were absent from this summer’s tournament and spelled the end of Gattuso’s tenure, with his contract terminated in April by mutual consent.
Despite their big stage successes, Italy have not featured at a World Cup finals since 2014.
Under-21 manager Silvio Baldini had taken over on a temporary basis following Gattuso’s departure.
Former Italy and Sampdoria midfielder Mancini led Manchester City to their first Premier League title in 2012 and enjoyed success with Lazio and Inter Milan, winning the Coppa Italia with both and three Serie A titles with Inter.
He also spent time with Galatasaray and Zenit St Petersburg before taking on the Italy job in 2018.
After he departed from the Azzurri, he had a short spell with the Saudi Arabia national team before joining Qatari side Al Sadd.
Although they won the Qatar Stars League, they failed to reach the final four of the AFC Champions League Elite and lost in the Qatar Cup final. Mancini left his role with Al Sadd in June.
Italy start their Nations League campaign on 25 September at home to Belgium before travelling to face Turkey three days later.
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