Mancini takes over as coach of the Italian national team.

The Italian national team can finally get back on track after chaos reigned in recent days, with Roberto Mancini returning to coach for a second term, according to what was announced by the President of the Italian Football Federation, Giovanni Malagò, during a press conference on Tuesday.

Malagò also announced in the same press conference the appointment of Claudio Ranieri as the technical director of the federation, succeeding Paolo Maldini, noting that the latter had threatened to resign if the task of coaching the four-time world champions was given to Mancini or Antonio Conte.

Malagò said: “I saw that the person who should become the national team coach (…) is Roberto Mancini,” adding: “I received Claudio Ranieri's approval just a few minutes ago. Today we have a new coach and a new technical director,” announcing their introduction to the media on Wednesday evening.

Mancini, who is 61 years old, previously coached the Italian national team from 2018 to 2023, leading them to win the UEFA Euro 2020 title.

His main task is to revive his national team, which has missed the last three editions of the World Cup.

During his first term with the two-time European champions, Mancini unexpectedly resigned from his position in the summer of 2023 in response to temptations from Saudi Arabia, at a time when Italy was facing difficulties in the qualifiers for Euro 2024.

The return of the former Manchester City and Inter Milan coach to the national coaching position comes just 24 hours after Andrea Pirlo announced that he was “no longer a candidate” to succeed Gennaro Gattuso.

Pirlo announced on Monday that he was no longer a candidate for the coaching position after facing a torrent of criticism due to a sponsorship deal with a Russian sports betting company, in addition to his relatively modest coaching resume.

Pirlo's exclusion led to the resignation of Maldini and his Brazilian advisor Leonardo, especially since Maldini opposed Mancini or Conte taking over the Italian national team and was pushing for Thiago Motta to be appointed as the new coach.