Roberto Mancini Appointed Italy National Football Team Head Coach Again

Kathmandu. Roberto Mancini has been appointed as the head coach of the Italian national football team for the second time. 

Mancini was appointed the day after Andrea Pirlo announced he would not take charge of the team and technical director Paolo Maldini resigned from his post.

Gennaro Gattuso had left the coaching post in April after Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the third consecutive time. Pirlo was then seen as a likely candidate to become head coach. He announced on Monday that he was out of the running after a controversy arose regarding his association with a Russian betting company.

Italian Football Federation President Giovanni Malago said Mancini was the most suitable person for the head coach position. Claudio Ranieri, who led Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2015-16, has been appointed technical director in place of Maldini. 

Maldini, who became technical director just two weeks ago, and advisor Leonardo resigned after the decision was made not to make Pirlo the coach. Earlier, the federation had also contacted Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti.

The 61-year-old Mancini previously managed the Italian team from 2018 to 2023. Under his coaching, Italy won the Euro 2020 title by defeating England in the final. He kept the team unbeaten for a record 37 matches. 

Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup after being defeated by North Macedonia in the play-offs for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. He then resigned in August 2023.

Italy could not participate in this year's World Cup after being defeated in another World Cup play-off earlier this year. For this reason, Gattuso's tenure ended and his contract was terminated by mutual agreement in April. 

Despite achieving success in major tournaments, Italy has not reached the final stage of the World Cup since 2014. After Gattuso's departure, U-21 team coach Silvio Baldini temporarily took charge of the team.

Under the leadership of former Italian and Sampdoria midfielder Mancini, Manchester City won their first Premier League title in 2012. He also achieved success with Lazio and Inter Milan. He won the Coppa Italia with both teams and three Serie A titles with Inter Milan.

Before taking charge of Italy in 2018, he also worked at Galatasaray and Zenit Saint Petersburg. After leaving Italy, he was briefly with the Saudi Arabian national team and then joined Qatari club Al Sadd.

Although Al Sadd won the Qatar Stars League, they could not reach the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League Elite and were also defeated in the final of the Qatar Cup. Mancini left Al Sadd in June. 

Italy will start the Nations League by playing Belgium at home on September 25. Three days later, Italy will face Turkey.