After Guardiola said no, Italy chose a World Cup winner as coach | OneFootball

After missing out on their third consecutive World Cup, the Italy national team is undergoing an institutional transformation aimed at the long term in order to return to the top level internationally. The departure of Gabriele Gravina and the arrival of Giovanni Malagò as president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) was one of the moves made after the loss to Bosnia in the playoff, and reports from Italy detailed who will replace Gennaro Gattuso.

Journalist Elisabetta Esposito stated in a bylined column in La Gazzetta dello Sport that Andrea Pirlo “agreed to become the new head coach” of the Azzurra, after Pep Guardiola turned down the offer to take the job. Technical secretary Paolo Maldini and advisor Leonardo see him as the “ideal” person for the role, and the 2006 world champion will be taking on his fifth coaching experience, the first at national-team level.

It is worth remembering that Pirlo has been the current coach of United FC in the United Arab Emirates since mid-2025, and the only time he spent more than a year at one club was when he was on the bench at Sampdoria, where he managed 45 matches. Before that, he coached Turkey’s Karagümrük for 34 games, and his first experience came at Juventus in Italy between August 2020 and June 2021.

The search by Maldini and Leonardo focused on finding someone with a similar football philosophy or someone who thought like them, with harmony and shared ideas. “Andrea Pirlo was identified from the beginning as the perfect candidate for the renewal project they see as necessary for Italian football. Asking highly experienced and strong-character coaches such as (Antonio) Conte or (Roberto) Mancini to think like them is practically impossible. That is why they opted for a younger profile, open to modern football and receptive to advice and guidance,” Esposito wrote.

The level of confidence in this decision is absolute, despite the fact that the coach was accused some time ago of not having enough character to manage a locker room. However, the two executives are ready to back him against any criticism. The former Juventus, Inter, and Milan midfielder will have a contract through the 2030 World Cup, but Paolo Maldini is betting on a long-term vision, as the aim will be to focus on the development of 12- and 13-year-olds and complete this process in 8 to 10 years.

The 47-year-old former footballer could earn a salary not exceeding 1.5 million euros, with the possibility of increases based on sporting results: “Pirlo will be Italy’s new coach, and the announcement is imminent.” The cited source said the manager is “enthusiastic” about this new project, and the FIGC is preparing for a very busy weekend with the intention of finalizing the agreement between the parties.

During his playing career, Pirlo wore the Nazionale shirt 116 times, scoring 13 goals and providing 26 assists. He played almost every minute of the 2006 World Cup, in which Italy beat France on penalties in Berlin, lost the Euro 2012 final 0-4 to Spain, and fell to the same opponent in the semifinals of the 2013 Confederations Cup. He was part of the squads at the last World Cups in South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014, both ending in first-round elimination. After that, he did not take part in the campaigns that left Italy out of Russia 2018, Qatar 2022, and this year’s edition.

At first, Pep Guardiola was the main name targeted to take over the position left vacant by Gattuso. Sky Sport even reported that Paolo Maldini and Leonardo had held a lengthy meeting to discuss his arrival to the Italian national team. However, the Spaniard, who recently left his job at Manchester City, turned down the offer.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.