Giovanni Malagò is the new president of the FIGC, "relaunch objective"

Giovanni Malagò is the new president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). The former number one of the Coni won the race for president, clearly surpassing the other candidate, Giancarlo Abeteat the end of the elective assembly held in Rome.

Malagò’s first words: “With you I can do everything”

Malagò obtained 343,084 votes, equal to 68,58% of preferences, against the 145,936 votes that went to Abete (29.17%). “With you I can do everything”, the first words of the new president, visibly excited, as federal president.

Relaunch objective

Entrepreneur and sports manager, he takes over the reins of Italian football a year after the end of his career third term as president of CONIa position he held from February 2013 (until June 2025), when he managed to overcome Raffaele Pagnozzi in the elections. The rise to the helm of the Football Federation instead comes a few months after the end of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which saw Malagò, 67 years old, hold the highest position on the organizing committee. In October 2018 he was also elected member of the IOCduring the 133rd session of the International Olympic Committee, becoming the 22nd Italian in history to enter the five-circle assembly, the 16th on an individual basis.

Today the Roman leader is entrusted with the task of rebuilding a Federation struggling with the third consecutive exclusion from the World Cup. “Professionalism must recognize the value of the base, amateurism must be freed from disproportionate administrative burdens, the Leagues must find a strong but non-invasive interlocutor in the FIGC, and the technical components must be involved in the choices that determine the sporting future of the country”, is the indication in Malagò’s program which sees a FIGC not “only as a regulatory authority” but which is at the same time “institutional referee, strategic engine and service platform”.

Much space in the program is dedicated to the national team

“The first objective is to rebuild technical continuity between youth activities, clubs and national teams. Coverciano must become even more the center of methodological development of Italian football. It is not a question of imposing a single module or school, but of creating a common language and a capacity for constant comparison between the Federation and the Club”, is the idea of ​​the former CONI president. Among the objectives is that of avoid the dispersion of talent and a lot of space in the program is also dedicated to the role of the Lega Serie A.

Already in the past, Malagò, as president of Coni, experienced the federal events of Italian football up close. In 2018 he was called to resolve the crisis linked to the failure to elect the new governance. On 1 February of that year the Coni Board, chaired by him, appointed the general secretary Roberto Fabbricini as the new extraordinary commissioner of the FIGC and the following day Fabbricini appointed Malago himself as commissioner of the Lega Serie A, a position he vacated in May of the same year. The problems are the same as then. Malagò has the task of starting to resolve them, with a very specific horizon: the 2030 World Cup.

The Federal Council confirmed en bloc

The federal council of the FIGC has been confirmed en bloc. The only doubt concerned the Lega Pro, but the outgoing councilor Giulio Gallazzi prevailed over the candidate Donato Macchia. Stefano Campoccia, Giorgio Chiellini and Giuseppe Marotta are the councilors in the Lega Serie A quota, Antonio Gozzi is the councilor representing the Lega Serie B, while Daniele Ortolano, Ilaria Bazzerla, Sergio Pedrazzini, Giacomo Fantazzini and Giuliana Tambaro are the councilors in the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti quota. Also confirmed are Davide Biondini, Sara Gama, Valerio Bernardi, Umberto Calcagno (athletes) and Giancarlo Camolese and Silvia Citta (technicians).

Gravina: “I resigned out of dignity and responsibility”

“The choice to resign was convinced, thoughtful and, no less, very painful. A choice of personal dignity and institutional responsibility. I have always been a proud fighter and a proud opponent of those who sought the path of popular emotion to force changes in people, evidently not aligned and unwelcome, without the support of tangible motivations found in our system”, said the resigning president of the FIGC, Gabriele Gravina in his speech during the elective assembly. “I decided to return the mandate because the level of personalization had increasingly affected our system and I felt a strong duty to prevent the Federation from being dragged into a vortex that would have strongly tried and divided it – he added -. My step back today serves to stimulate reflections, review positions, relationships and strengthen our path of regeneration”.