In crisis, Italy faces difficulties in finding a coach, and Brazilian becomes an option

Until then, the four-time world champion team will still have to find a new coach, who will have little time to implement his working method in an attempt to avoid a new fiasco.

Carrying the trauma of failing to qualify for the last three editions of the World Cup, the Azzurri have also been struggling off the field, with the FIGC (the Italian football federation) having serious difficulties in finding a coach up to the challenge.

The current journey began at the end of March, when Italy became the first world champion to miss out on three consecutive editions of the World Cup when they were defeated in the European Qualifiers playoff by Bosnia and Herzegovina - a team that fell in the 2026 World Cup round of 32.

A few days after the Italian failure, former midfielder Gennaro Gattuso – world champion in 2006 – left command of the team.

Since then, the team has been adrift, no brainer. In the friendlies against Luxembourg and Greece, at the beginning of June, Italy under-21 coach, Silvio Baldini, took over on an interim basis. Thanks to goals from Inter Milan center forward Francesco Esposito, the Azzurri won both matches 1-0.

At the end of the same month, the Italian team began what would prove to be a tortuous process of reconstruction, with the election of former president of CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) Giovanni Malagò to command the FIGC.

He took over from Gabriele Gravina, whose term would run until 2028, but who ended up resigning after the defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

One of Malagò's first acts was to announce the hiring of Paolo Maldini as technical director of the Italian federation.

The former defender who made his mark at Milan and the Italian national team between the mid-1980s and 2000 was tasked with finding a new coach to replace Gattuso.

Brazilian Leonardo, world champion with Brazil in 1994 and who began working as a sports director in Italy after hanging up his boots, acts as a consultant for the project.

The first name the duo chose to go after was Carlo Ancelotti, with a recently renewed contract with the Brazilian team until the 2030 World Cup.

"Frankly, it felt right to start with those we consider to be the best," said Maldini, who played alongside former midfielder Ancelotti and was also coached by him at Milan.

With the Italian's stay confirmed by the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), even after the early elimination to Norway in the round of 16 of the World Cup, Maldini and Leonardo decided to go to plan B: the Spaniard Pep Guardiola, who left Manchester City in May, after a decade of serial titles in England.

"Thank you, I'm honored, but I don't feel prepared at the moment", one of the main coaches of the 21st century was quoted as saying, when responding to the FIGC's invitation.

With the second negative in a row, the third option was Andrea Pirlo, one of the main midfielders of his generation, but still far from the status of Ancelotti and Guardiola as coach.

Since his retirement from the field, Pirlo has managed Juventus, Karagümrük (from Türkiye), Sampdoria, and has been at Dubai United, in the United Arab Emirates, since last season.

The former player had already given a positive signal to the Italian federation's interest, and his official announcement seemed like just a matter of time, until a commercial relationship with a Russian betting company caused the plan to fall apart.

Since 2025, Pirlo has been one of the main poster boys for Fonbet, a Russian bet founded in 1994 by businessman Anatoly Machulsky, with his appointment as coach of Italy attracting a barrage of criticism from Italian politicians – Italy supports Ukraine against the Russian invasion, which began in mid-2022.

"I regret that a decision based on sporting criteria quickly became a public controversy in which intentions and ideas were attributed to me that do not reflect my personality," the player wrote in a post on social media.

With yet another failed attempt to find a new commander, two experienced names who have already played for the Azzurri began to be considered: Antonio Conte, who led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2016 Euro Cup, and Roberto Mancini, who won the title of the main European national team competition in 2020.

However, Maldini and Leonardo would have already conveyed to the federation their dissatisfaction with both names, which would not be aligned with the project designed by them for the selection. The duo is even considering resigning from their respective positions, if one of the two is confirmed.

According to Italian media, the main target on the radar of the FIGC technical director and his consultant at the moment would be Italian-Brazilian Thiago Motta.

With a still short career as a coach, the former midfielder has spent time at Genoa, Spezia, Bologna and Juventus since 2019. Motta has been free on the market since the beginning of 2025, after being fired by the Juventus board following two tough defeats, 4-0 to Atalanta, and 3-0 to Fiorentina.

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