Giovanni Malagò, who led the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics organising committee, has been elected president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) with a commanding 68.58% of the vote.
Malagò defeated former FIGC president Giancarlo Abete, who received 29.17% in Monday's election and was the only other candidate. The new president takes over a federation in crisis after Italy failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, a blow that prompted former president Gabriele Gravina to resign following a qualifying playoff defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Malagò's immediate priority will be appointing a new head coach for the national team after Gennaro Gattuso left the role. The leading candidates are both former Italy managers: Roberto Mancini, who led the Azzurri to the European Championship title in 2021 before spells with Saudi Arabia and most recently Al-Sadd in Qatar; and Antonio Conte, who coached Italy at Euro 2016 and recently stepped down at Napoli.
