Italy appoints Mancini as head coach after third World Cup qualifying failure
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Roberto Mancini has returned for a second spell as Italy head coach, replacing Gennaro Gattuso, who left the post in April, as the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) overhauls its management of the national team. The move comes after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup for an unprecedented third consecutive time, a run of poor results that forced the federation into a wholesale rethink of its approach to the senior men's side.
Alongside Mancini's reappointment, the FIGC restructured its technical hierarchy, appointing Claudio Ranieri as technical director in place of Paolo Maldini. The pairing of a returning head coach with an experienced figure overseeing broader technical strategy is intended to give Italy clearer leadership as it seeks to recover from its worst qualifying record in decades.
- Roberto Mancini returns as Italy head coach, replacing Gennaro Gattuso
- Move follows Italy's third straight World Cup qualification failure
- Claudio Ranieri named technical director, replacing Paolo Maldini
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Roberto Mancini is a former Italy head coach best known for leading the national side to victory at Euro 2020. He left the role in 2023 to manage Saudi Arabia, and is now returning to Italy's top job after Gennaro Gattuso, his successor, departed in April.
The change follows a deepening crisis for Italian football: the national team has now failed to qualify for three World Cups in a row, a run that would have seemed unthinkable given Italy's history as a four-time world champion. This repeated absence from football's biggest tournament has put sustained pressure on the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) to overhaul how the team is run.
As part of that overhaul, the FIGC has also brought in Claudio Ranieri, a veteran coach known for guiding Leicester City to their surprise Premier League title in 2016, as technical director, replacing former Italy captain Paolo Maldini in that role. Together, Mancini's return and Ranieri's appointment represent the federation's attempt to rebuild the national team's fortunes under new leadership.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of the appointment argue that Mancini remains one of the most accomplished coaches available to Italy, having delivered the Euro 2020 title and possessing an intimate understanding of the national set-up and its players. In a moment of crisis, they contend, continuity and proven pedigree matter more than experimentation, and pairing him with the vastly experienced Ranieri as technical director signals a federation finally treating the rebuild as a structural project rather than a quick fix. Bringing back a figure who commands dressing-room respect, in their view, gives Italy the best chance of steadying itself quickly.
The case against
Critics counter that Mancini walked away from the same job in 2023 to take up a lucrative contract in Saudi Arabia, and reappointing him risks rewarding inconsistency while leaving genuine questions about his commitment unanswered. They also worry that recalling a familiar face merely masks deeper problems in Italian youth development and the domestic league that a change of head coach alone cannot fix, and that removing Maldini in favour of Ranieri looks more like a reactive reshuffle than a carefully considered reform. For these observers, the federation would have been better served looking outward for fresh ideas rather than returning to a known quantity.
Coverage
- BBC Sport — Mancini re-appointed Italy manager
- The Guardian — Roberto Mancini returns as Italy head coach with Claudio Ranieri named technical director