Paolo Maldini Resigns as Italy's Technical Director: A Clash of Vision

Paolo Maldini walked into the job as Italy’s technical director with a clear idea of what the Azzurri should look like. Two weeks later, he walked away.

His resignation, alongside trusted advisor Leonardo, was not about results or time. It was about power, trust, and who gets to shape the future of the national team.

A Clash Over the Bench

Maldini and Leonardo had drawn up their shortlist. Andrea Pirlo sat at the top of it. Thiago Motta was a serious alternative. Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte were not.

The FIGC, and in particular President Giovanni Malagò, saw it differently.

Malagò vetoed Pirlo, wary of the political storm surrounding the former midfielder’s role as a brand ambassador for a Russian betting company. The backlash, both inside and outside the federation, was judged too heavy a price to pay, regardless of Maldini’s backing.

The response from Maldini and Leonardo was to pivot, but not towards the names the FIGC preferred. They pushed Thiago Motta, the ex-Juventus and Bologna coach whose reputation has soared in recent seasons. That proposal also hit a wall. Malagò declined again.

At that point, the fracture became impossible to hide.

Conte, Mancini and a Question of Trust

On Monday, the three men – Maldini, Leonardo and Malagò – sat down for what would prove a decisive conversation. Malagò tried to steer them away from Pirlo and towards the federation’s favoured candidates: Conte and Mancini.

On paper, both are heavyweight options. Mancini delivered Euro 2020. Conte is one of the most intense, demanding coaches of his generation. But Maldini and Leonardo saw red flags everywhere.

With Mancini, their concern cut to the heart of trust and commitment. As reported, they argued that bringing back the coach who walked away in the middle of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign – only to take over Saudi Arabia weeks later – raised the same kind of doubts that critics had about Pirlo. Different issue, same unease: can you build a long-term project on such foundations?

Conte, for them, posed a different risk. His career pattern is clear: explosive impact, towering demands, and an exit usually within two years. With the 2030 World Cup four years away, Maldini and Leonardo feared a cycle that would peak early and collapse before the tournament that should anchor the project.

For the FIGC, these were acceptable risks for elite coaches. For Maldini and Leonardo, they were red lines.

Autonomy Lost

The technical director role only works if the person in it truly shapes sporting decisions. Maldini believed that was the job he had accepted. The repeated refusals – first Pirlo, then Motta – told him otherwise.

When Malagò pushed again for Conte and Mancini, Maldini and Leonardo didn’t just see a disagreement over names. They saw an attempt to limit their autonomy, to reduce their role to that of advisors rather than decision-makers.

That, more than any tactical debate, broke the relationship.

By Monday, the outcome was inevitable. Maldini and Leonardo resigned, ending a reign that had barely begun and leaving Italy without the technical leadership it had just installed.

A Decision Looms

The timing could hardly be sharper. The FIGC Council meets at 12:00 CET (11:00 GMT), and Malagò is expected to confirm the new Italy coach.

He will do so without the pair he had only just brought in to help shape that very choice.

Italy now stands at a crossroads: a powerful president pushing through his preferred direction, and a vacant technical project that was supposed to give the Azzurri a clear, coherent line to 2030.

The next appointment will reveal more than just a name. It will show who really runs the national team – and what kind of future Italy is prepared to gamble on.