Giovanni Malagò has chosen Roberto Mancini to return as Italy's coach, turning away from Antonio Conte in a decision that puts the man who won Euro 2020 back at the center of the Nazionale project.
The choice matters now because it settles the main coaching question around Italy with one name that carries both success and unfinished business. Mancini led Italy from 2018 to 2023, won the European Championship in 2021 and built a team that ran through 37 consecutive useful results, but he also oversaw the failed route to the World Cup and left the job in August 2023 after friction with Gabriele Gravina over a reorganization of the national-team staffs.
That is why his return was never a simple homecoming. Conte had his own Italy record, coaching from 2014 to 2016 through friendlies, qualifiers and Euro 2016, before Italy fell to Germany in the quarterfinals. Mancini, though, is the figure Malagò has backed for the next phase, despite the fact that his last spell ended with Italy losing the playoff semifinal in Palermo against Macedonia del Nord and with a 0-0 draw away against Irlanda del Nord and a home draw with Svizzera in the qualifying campaign.
Mancini's numbers explain the pull of the decision as much as its risk: 61 matches, 37 wins, 15 draws and 9 losses, plus 10 wins in 10 matches in the Euro 2020 qualifying group. They also explain the doubt. Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the second time under him, and he left less than a month before becoming ct of Arabia Saudita, a fast exit that made his second act with the Nazionale look unlikely even before it was discussed.
For now, the move gives Italy a familiar leader and a clear break from the Conte option. What remains open is whether Mancini's return is already a formal appointment or only the choice that will be turned into one, and that detail will decide how quickly the Nazionale can move from decision to work.
