FIGC

The FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) is Italy's governing body for football, responsible for the national team, professional leagues, and grassroots development. Founded in 1898 and a FIFA member since 1905, it is one of Europe's oldest football federations. Italy are four-time World Cup winners (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006) and qualified for every tournament until 2018. An extraordinary assembly of 274 delegates elects the president at the Palazzo dei Congressi, Rome.

Italy's 4-1 penalty defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31 March 2026 confirmed a third consecutive World Cup absence under FIGC's watch, a record unmatched by any former world champion. President Gabriele Gravina resigned on 2 April after simultaneous demands from Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, senator Claudio Lotito, and the Lega Calcio. Gravina's cancelled parliamentary hearing produced a structural crisis report on 8 April: Serie A ranks 49th of 50 leagues for under-21 player minutes, at just 1.9%; foreign players hold 67.9% of all Serie A minutes.

The presidential election on 22 June 2026 is a clean two-horse race between Giovanni Malagò (Serie A backing, confirmed 48% bloc) and Giancarlo Abete (Lega Dilettanti, 34% bloc), after Italy's anti-corruption authority ANAC cleared Malagò of the pantouflage eligibility challenge on 18 June, three days after missing its own 15 June Deadline. Sports Minister Abodi had raised the challenge on 4 June, arguing that Malagò's move from CONI (which he Left in June 2025) to FIGC breached a three-year cooling-off rule.

The winner inherits a documented EUR 5.5 billion club-debt file. Three parliamentary reforms are required to address it: reinstatement of the Growth Decree tax break for signing young Italians, repeal of the 2018 gambling-advertising ban, and a 1% levy on betting turnover earmarked for football. None can be enacted by federation vote.