Absent in the last two World Cups and poorly sent to the 2026 edition, Italy desperately seeks a new coach after the resignation of Luciano Spalletti and the refusal of Claudio Ranieri and Stefano Pioli.
It is the end of the season ritual: Scudetto ends and begins the trainer ball.
Ten of the 20 clubs that will participate in the 2025-26 season of Serie A from August 23 have changed or change coach.
But the most prestigious bank finds no occupant: the national team champion and two from Europe has no coach.
Ranieri and Pioli say no
Officially Spalletti remains the Italian coach, but after the defeat against Norway (3-0), last Friday (6), the Italian Federation (Figc) notified him about his next resignation.
To revive the way to the 2026 World Cup of North America from its selection, third from Group I to nine points of leader Norway, Figc thought he found the ideal candidate with Ranieri.
Experienced, much less rough with his players that Spalletti and free from any contract, because he had retired after one last and stunning period with Rome, the elegant 73 -year -old coach seemed arranged.
Negotiations approached a one-year agreement before a dramatic turn: an SMS sent to Figc President Gabriele Gravina on the night from Monday to Tuesday.
“I don’t feel prepared,” wrote Ranieri, who later justified his renunciation by invoking his new functions as a strategic advisor of Rome’s American owners.
Gattuso on the front line?
Surprised by this setback, Figc went to Pioli, former coach of Milan (2019-24), currently in charge of Saudi Al-Nassr.
The leaders of Italian football did not even have to negotiate with Pioli: his agent informed them that he was about to commit to Fiorentina, a club he has run between 2017 and 2019.
These renunciations reflect the degradation of the selection image, which could not qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, before a Euro-2024 completed in the round of 16.
But the refusals of Ranieri and Pioli did not fail to surprise the observers, including Arrigo Sacchi, former Italian selector (1991-96), a 1994 World Cup finalist in the United States.
“Nazionale should have priority first of all, especially in the dramatic situation in which it is. Someone has to show courage and responsibility,” he expressed at La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Salvation could come from one of the 2006 world champions. Three names resonate with insistence. Daniele de Rossi, Fabio Cannavaro and Gennaro Gattuso, who, according to the Italian press, would be on the front line.
They have in common have won the fourth and last world title against Zinedine Zidane’s France in 2006 at the Berlin Olympic Stadium (1 to 1 after extension, 5-3 on penalties), but also accumulated disappointment in their careers as coaches.
Gattuso, who passed by AC Milan, Naples, Valencia or even Marseille, has just left Hajduk Split after a single season.
Although he only won a trophy in his career as a coach (Italy Cup with Naples), former Milan midfielder has a highlighted quality in the eyes of the Italian leaders: his volcanic temperament, which could arouse a nazionale that suffers from a palpable lack of personality, the distinctive mark of its predecessors.
