Italian football is officially under guardianship. On October 6, 2026, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) voted unanimously to place the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) under special administration, appointing Giovanni Malago as extraordinary commissioner of the federation he was elected to lead just months earlier. It is the eleventh time the FIGC has been run by a commissioner, following previous administrations triggered by missed World Cups, Calciopoli and other scandals.

The crisis began with a membership card. Malago won the FIGC presidency on June 22 with 68.58 percent of the vote, comfortably beating former president Giancarlo Abete on 29.17 percent. But a lawyer discovered he did not hold a valid FIGC membership card at the time of his candidacy, as the federation's statute requires. The FIGC and CONI launched proceedings and reached different conclusions, with the Olympic body initially deeming the election should be invalidated, until a last-minute mediation between Malago and CONI president Luciano Buonfiglio produced a compromise.

Under the agreed solution, Malago moves from elected president to extraordinary commissioner while the federation prepares a fresh vote, which must be held by January 31, 2027, although reports suggest it could come within 60 to 90 days. He is expected to stand again, this time as a properly registered member, and remains the clear favourite. For now, the 67-year-old, who led CONI for years and spearheaded the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, runs Italian football on an interim mandate.

The backdrop is the bleakest period in the national team's history. Gabriele Gravina resigned as FIGC president in March 2026 after the play-off final defeat to Bosnia sealed a third consecutive World Cup miss, ending a tenure that began in October 2018. Coach Gennaro Gattuso and delegation head Gianluigi Buffon departed too. 'The main objective was to bring Italy back to the World Cup. And we didn't succeed,' Buffon wrote on Instagram, adding that 'it's fair to leave it to those who will come after the freedom to choose the figure they think is best.'

The saga has even drawn in UEFA. President Aleksander Ceferin warned Italian authorities that 'any political interference could undermine the trust of UEFA and other partners, which would not serve either Italian football or the tournament,' a pointed reference to Euro 2032, which Italy is co-hosting with Turkiye. Last week the federation submitted a list of 14 stadiums in 13 cities to UEFA, but only one venue, Juventus' Allianz Stadium in Turin, is ready. 'Italy's football infrastructure is nowhere near the prestige your football enjoys,' Ceferin added.

For now, the rebuild continues on two tracks: Malago steering the federation toward elections, and Mancini rebuilding the team in the Nations League. It all traces back to the night in Zenica that ended the Gattuso era, a defeat the Italian papers are still dissecting months later. Whether guardianship brings stability or just another chapter of chaos will define Italian football's next decade.