Mancini Returns to Lead Italy Again: A Second Chance for the Azzurri

Roberto Mancini is back. Again entrusted with the Italy job, the coach who delivered Euro 2020 glory has agreed to lead the Azzurri for a second spell, Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Giovanni Malagò confirmed on Tuesday. Claudio Ranieri will join him in a key role, stepping in as technical director.

“It’s Mancini,” Malagò said. “I believed that the best person to become head coach was Roberto Mancini.”

No ceremony. No hesitation. Just a clear choice in a turbulent moment for Italian football.

From Wembley Triumph to World Cup Heartache

Mancini returns to a post he knows intimately. His first stint, from 2018 to 2023, reshaped the national side’s identity. He rebuilt confidence, encouraged bold, front-foot football and, at the peak of that cycle, conquered Europe.

At Wembley in 2021, Italy outlasted England in a penalty shootout to win the European Championship, a night that seemed to signal a renaissance for the Azzurri. That image of Mancini, arms raised, blue suit immaculate on the touchline, became a symbol of Italy’s rebirth.

Then the cracks appeared.

Italy failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, a seismic failure for a four-time world champion. The hangover lingered into the next campaign, with a sluggish start to Euro 2024 qualifying piling pressure on the project. The momentum that had carried them through that magical summer in London drained away.

Gennaro Gattuso, who had stepped in after Mancini’s first departure, left the role in April when Italy missed out on a third consecutive World Cup. The vacancy brought the FIGC back to a familiar name, a familiar blueprint, and a coach who knows both the heights and the pitfalls of the job.

A Coach with Heavyweight Credentials

Mancini’s résumé still carries weight in any boardroom. Across 58 matches in his first spell in charge of Italy, he oversaw a long unbeaten run and a European title that restored pride to a bruised football nation.

At club level, his record speaks just as loudly. He has led Inter, Fiorentina and Manchester City, leaving a strong imprint at each stop. In Manchester, he ended a 44-year league title drought, guiding City to their first Premier League crown in 2011-12 with that unforgettable, last-gasp title race. That season cemented his reputation as a coach who can manage big personalities, big expectations and big pressure.

Those qualities are precisely what Italy require now. This is no romantic return; it is a hard-nosed attempt to stabilise a listing ship with a coach who has already navigated these waters.

Ranieri Steps In as Technical Director

Alongside Mancini, the FIGC has turned to another seasoned figure. Claudio Ranieri, one of the game’s great journeyman managers and a title winner with Leicester City, will become technical director.

Ranieri’s role will be strategic, shaping the broader technical direction of the national setup and working hand in hand with Mancini. It is a pairing built on experience, pragmatism and a deep understanding of Italian football’s culture and demands.

At a time when the federation is under scrutiny for its decisions on and off the pitch, the choice of two established, respected names signals a move away from experiments and towards stability.

Fallout Behind the Scenes

The return of Mancini and the arrival of Ranieri come against a backdrop of internal upheaval at the FIGC. Former technical director Paolo Maldini and his adviser Leonardo resigned on Monday, a double departure that underlined just how strained the atmosphere had become.

Their exits followed the collapse of Andrea Pirlo’s proposed appointment as head coach. Pirlo, a national icon as a player, saw his move blocked because of his ties to a Russian betting firm, a link the federation was not prepared to overlook in the current climate.

The saga did not end there. Pep Guardiola, the FIGC’s first choice for the job, had already turned down the role last month. That rejection forced the federation to reassess its options and ultimately circle back to Mancini, the man who had already delivered its most recent major trophy.

A Second Act Under Intense Scrutiny

This is not a nostalgic reunion. It is a high-stakes second act.

Mancini inherits a team scarred by repeated World Cup failures and a federation still wrestling with its own direction. The expectations are brutal: qualify, compete, and restore Italy’s standing among the elite. No excuses, no grace period.

He knows the terrain, knows the pressure, knows the sound of a nation turning on its coach when results go wrong. He also knows the roar when it all comes together, as it did that night at Wembley.

Now, with Ranieri beside him and the FIGC backing him publicly, Mancini must prove that lightning can strike twice. Can the man who rebuilt Italy once do it again, in a landscape even less forgiving than before?