Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have decided to resign from their positions as Technical Director and Sports Advisor of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), following the collapse of Andrea Pirlo’s appointment as Italy’s new head coach.
The joint resignation comes just two weeks after the FIGC announced Maldini’s appointment as Technical Director and head of the “Club Italia” system, alongside Leonardo as advisor, in an ambitious initiative aimed at restructuring the senior national team and youth setups.
Maldini and Leonardo were resolute in their push to hire Pirlo, viewing the former Juventus manager as the ideal figure to lead a long-term project—especially after early pursuits of Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola fell through.
However, FIGC President Giovanni Malagò refused to give final approval for Pirlo’s appointment due to the controversy surrounding his commercial ties with Russian entities, notably his role as a global brand ambassador for the betting company Fonbet.
Malagò’s hesitation was not rooted in a technical evaluation of Pirlo’s managerial credentials, but rather in political and institutional concerns over the appropriateness of those commercial links given the current international climate.
Pirlo had previously confirmed his removal from consideration, defending his commercial partnerships as strictly business- and sports-related while thanking Maldini and Leonardo for their trust and backing.
Interpreting the veto as a direct compromise of the autonomy and decision-making authority granted to them, Maldini and Leonardo opted to step down immediately. Their sudden departure leaves Malagò facing a fresh crisis as the federation must now rebuild its technical hierarchy and appoint a new Azzurri boss, with Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte once again emerging as leading candidates.
