After bankruptcy in World Cup qualifying: Technical director: Maldini should end Italy’s crisis

There had been a lot of speculation about Maldini’s personality in the past few days. The now 58-year-old surprisingly brought in the Brazilian world champion Leonardo (56) as an advisor, as the national football association FIGC announced. The two had played together at AC Milan for several years. Leonardo also has Italian citizenship. The position of the future national coach is still open.

Conte and Mancini favorites for coaching positions

Maldini won the Champions League and the National Champions Cup five times in his long club career. He became Serie A champion seven times with AC Milan. At the 1994 World Cup he was in the team that lost to Brazil in the final. Leonardo was active on the Brazilian side at the time, but he was not used in the final. After the end of his active career, Maldini was technical director in Milan from 2019 to 2023.

The favorites for the coaching position are Antonio Conte (56) and Roberto Mancini (61), both of whom have previously been national coaches and are currently unemployed. Because of the missed World Cup qualification, national coach Gennaro Gattuso and selection team coordinator Gianluigi Buffon had to leave this year. Incidentally, Maldini’s father Cesare Maldini (1932-2016) coached the Squadra Azzurra from 1996 to 1998.