Italy seeks to regain its status under Mancini's leadership
Italy is preparing for Mancini's second adventure with the national team in the UEFA Nations League following consecutive failures to qualify for the World Cup
Translated by Qiyas from النهار — Original source
After months of self-examinations, controversy, and debates, Italy is preparing to let football speak for itself as Roberto Mancini embarks on his second stint as national team manager, beginning today with a UEFA Nations League match against Belgium. Mancini returned to coach the Azzurri three years after his departure, which followed a tenure marked by winning the European Championship but also missing out on the 2022 World Cup. Appointed in late July to take on a rescue mission after the national team failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, his appointment means Italy will miss the global finals for the third consecutive time. Mancini managed the Italian national team between 2018 and 2023, leading them to victory in the European Championship in the summer of 2021. However, he also failed to secure qualification for the 2022 World Cup, after defeat by North Macedonia in the European play-offs, which originally followed the start of the disaster in 2018 with the loss to Sweden, and again this year with the loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaving the world champions absent from the finals for the third time in a row. Following the play-off defeat for the 2026 finals, Gennaro Gattuso resigned as national team manager, followed by general manager Gianluigi Buffon and Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina, who has held the position since 2018. They were replaced by Giovanni Malagò, former president of the Italian National Olympic Committee and head of the organizing committee for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. This series of changes came after widespread calls for radical reform of the game in Italy following the catastrophic failure in qualification, which left an entire generation without the chance to see their national team compete in the World Cup. After today’s match against Belgium in the first round of Group 1, Italy will travel to Turkey on September 28, then to France on October 2. Italy will face Turkey again on October 5, this time in Bologna.
