12JUN

FIGC race widens: Maldini, Del Piero, Albertini in play

2 min read

09:25UTC

Sports Minister Abodi is backing former AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini for the FIGC presidency, which would be the first time a former player has led Italian football.

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Key takeaway

No former player has ever led the FIGC; whether one does now will determine the reform narrative for Italian football.

Sports Minister Andrea Abodi endorsed Paolo Maldini for the FIGC presidency via La Stampa around 4 April, placing a former player at the centre of a race that has never produced one as winner. Alessandro Del Piero and Demetrio Albertini are also discussed. None has publicly confirmed interest.

Gravina's 8 April report establishes that the real constraint is legislative, not leadership. The candidates would inherit a structural problem requiring parliamentary action on betting levies, the Growth Decree, and tax credits for domestic talent investment.

Malago's commissioner route has precedent from 2018, referenced when the FIGC scheduled its 22 June election . The government may prefer that route to avoid a contested election during the reform window opened by Italy's elimination and the structural evidence in Gravina's report. The declaration deadline of approximately 13 May gives candidates five weeks to decide.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Italy needs a new football federation president after Gravina resigned. Names like AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini and World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero are being discussed—which would be historic since no former player has ever led Italian football. The election is 22 June, but the government might bypass the election altogether and appoint a commissioner instead.

What could happen next?

A player-president without governance experience and without a legislative programme would be unable to implement the structural remedies Gravina's report recommends.
The Malagò commissioner route would avoid a contested election during the reform window but signal institutional continuity over disruption—the opposite of what Gravina's structural diagnosis suggests is needed.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Primary parallel: The 2018 precedent for FIGC governance is instructive. After Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the FIGC went through a similar succession crisis; Carlo Tavecchio resigned, Roberto Fabbricini was appointed as extraordinary commissioner, and Gravina eventually won the 2018 election.

That election also featured player-name speculation (Roberto Baggio was discussed). The commissioner route allowed governance continuity during the reform window. Gravina's election produced incremental reform but not structural change.

Counter-parallel: La Liga's 2021 electoral reform, which saw Joan Laporta return to the Barcelona presidency on a reformist platform after institutional failure, shows that player-connected figures can deliver institutional change when the political coalition supports them. The difference: Laporta had a specific governance plan and a clear political base. None of the FIGC candidates has published a policy platform.

Consensus view: Italian football governance experts at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura dello Sport have observed that the three candidate names (Maldini, Del Piero, Albertini) share a common feature: global brand recognition but no governance experience.

The FIGC presidency requires managing Serie A clubs, amateur leagues, judicial organs, and government relations simultaneously. Neither Maldini's AC Milan technical director role nor Del Piero's ambassador work prepared them for institutional governance at this scale.

Counter-view: The case for a player-president is precisely the case against the technocrat model: Gravina, Tavecchio, Abete—all career federation administrators—presided over Italy's worst decade in football. A disruptor with name recognition and player credibility could reset the institutional culture. Malagò as commissioner is the middle path: experienced governance without the election risk, but also without the reform signal.

Key tension: Whether the FIGC needs institutional continuity or institutional disruption. Gravina's report argues the crisis is structural and requires legislative action; a player-president without political relationships cannot deliver that action. A career politician or official as commissioner (Malagò) maintains relationships but may not provide the reform signal that the structural evidence demands.

Sources:Milan Reports (citing La Stampa)·Milan Reports (citing La Stampa)

Mentions:La Stampa →Italy →AC Milan →Prima →World Cup →Serie A →Growth Decree →Alessandro Del Piero →Demetrio Albertini →Giovanni Malagò →Andrea Abodi →Swiss Federal Council →Paolo Maldini →FIGC →

First Reported In

Update #6 · FIFA's stealth price hike

Milan Reports (citing La Stampa)· 10 Apr 2026

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Causes and effects

This Event

FIGC race widens: Maldini, Del Piero, Albertini in play

Whether the June election produces a player-reformer or another insider determines whether Italy's structural football crisis produces institutional change or continuity.

Led to

Serie A picks Malagò for FIGC, sidelining government

The FIGC presidential race widening to former-player candidates was the position the clubs' 18-of-20 Malagò endorsement overrode on 13 April.

Occurred 13 Apr 2026

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Different Perspectives

FIFA

The 48-team tournament opened on schedule with 104 matches and a $13.1 billion projected revenue cycle, but three of the first weekend's most consequential stories, Iran's fan lockout, SoFi's embedded strike clause, and Malagò's eligibility suspension, were each decided by domestic legal systems operating outside FIFA's authority.

Morocco

Mohamed Ouahbi takes charge of his first senior match in football management against the five-time world champions, with the full-strength defensive structure that reached the 2022 semi-finals intact and facing a Brazilian lineup missing its three most celebrated attackers.

Brazil

Brazil open Group C on Saturday at MetLife without Neymar, Estêvão or Militão against a Morocco side managed by a first-time senior coach, making their opener the most consequential group-stage fixture of the opening weekend in terms of pre-tournament expectation versus squad availability.

FIGC / Italy

CONI's referral of the Malagò eligibility question entirely to ANAC means Italy's federation enters the group stage without a confirmed president-elect, with the anti-corruption regulator holding the power to remove the Serie A-backed frontrunner from the ballot ten days before the 22 June election.

United States

The co-host avoided its worst opening image when SoFi workers ratified a deal averting a strike before Friday's Paraguay opener, though the contractual walkout clause means the threat is deferred not dissolved. Pochettino named his XI with Tillman over Reyna, signalling he will manage risk rather than chase headlines against Paraguay.

FFIRI / Iran

Iran's squad trains in Tijuana with 14 staff still barred from the US, and learned on 9 June that their entire 8% supporter ticket allocation for all three Group G matches was revoked under OFAC sanctions. FFIRI is preparing an Article 4 FIFA complaint over the conditions of participation.