Giovanni Malagò's Mission to Rebuild Italy's National Team

Giovanni Malagò has a new office and an old problem: how to drag Italy’s national team back to where the shirt insists it belongs.

Elected as the new FIGC President with almost 69% of the votes, Malagò walks in with a strong mandate and very little time to waste. His brief is brutal in its simplicity: rebuild the Azzurri, restore belief around Coverciano, and sketch out a plan that stretches beyond the next qualification cycle.

That starts at the top of the football pyramid. A new head coach. A new technical director. A new idea of what Italy should look like.

Maldini’s name on everyone’s lips

Barely had the ballots been counted when the first big name surfaced. According to Gazzetta and Corriere della Sera, Paolo Maldini has already been contacted over a potential role as the Azzurri’s technical director.

It is the most evocative of possibilities. Maldini, the legendary former Italy and AC Milan captain, has long been seen as a symbol of elegance and authority on and off the pitch. His recent spell as a club executive at Milan only sharpened that image, showing he can operate in the boardroom as confidently as he once did in the penalty area.

Now his name is back in the national conversation, not as a defender, but as a builder.

The idea is straightforward: place a figure with undisputed credibility at the heart of the national project. Someone players will listen to. Someone the public will trust. Someone who understands both the weight of the shirt and the demands of the modern game.

A mandate to rebuild

Malagò’s mission has been spelled out clearly. Italy needs more than a tactical tweak or a motivational speech. It needs structure.

The new FIGC President is expected to oversee a reset that runs from the senior squad down through the youth levels. The appointment of the head coach and technical director will define that process. Get those calls right and the Azzurri gain a spine, a direction, a shared language. Get them wrong and the cycle of short-term fixes continues.

This is why the Maldini link resonates. It suggests a willingness to hand real power to a football man with a long-term view, not just a ceremonial figurehead.

A nation waiting

For now, there are no official announcements, only strong signals and serious discussions. But the outline is clear enough. Malagò wants to lay the foundations for future success, not just patch up the present.

Italy has been here before, standing at a crossroads after disappointment, searching for the right people to lead a revival. The difference this time may be the combination of a president with a strong electoral backing and a legend like Maldini potentially stepping into a key role.

If that partnership is confirmed, the Azzurri will not just be changing names on office doors. They will be redefining who gets to shape the next chapter of Italian football.