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Hard work to get the Azuri out of the dark tunnel
The Italian Football Federation took another step towards rebuilding the national team on Saturday, appointing Paolo Maldini as the federation’s technical director, and former Brazil international Leonardo, who played in 1994, as the federation’s technical director.
The newly elected president of the Italian Federation, Giovanni Malago, said that the appointment of Maldini and Leonardo was the first step towards appointing a new coach of the Italian national team.
Regarding Maldini and Leonardo, Malago said: “They are two sides of the same coin, there is a four-year commitment that should take us from now until 2030 to the next World Cup through the European Championship.”
The former coach of Inter and Milan, Leonardo, in addition to being the former manager of PSG, was Maldini’s partner in Milan.
Paolo Maldini is the new FIGC technical director and president of Club Italia 💙🇮🇹
▶️ https://t.co/uvOnDBHVqB#National #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/3dQxchABaJ
— Italian national team ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri) July 11, 2026
Maldini and Leonardo will be looking to replace coach Gennaro Gattuso, who stepped down after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row.
According to the network ESPN: The most obvious candidates for the position of coach of the Italian national team are Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte.
Mancini led Italy to the European Championship in 2021, then failed to lead the Azzurri to the 2022 World Cup before moving to coach Saudi Arabia. Mancini left Saudi Arabia in 2024 and also recently left the Qatari club Al-Sad.
As for Conte, he previously coached the Italian national team at the 2016 European Championship and recently left the coaching job of Napoli.
