Luciano Spalletti named Italy head coach

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has announced the appointment of a new head coach of the national team. Instead of Roberto Mancini, who retired less than a week, it will be headed by Luciano Spalletti, who led Napoli to victory in the Italian championship last season, and in the early 2010s twice took the gold of the Russian championship with Zenit St. Petersburg.

Italy’s appointment of Luciano Spalletti comes less than a week after the resignation of Roberto Mancini, who led the team to victory at the 2021 European Championship but failed to qualify for the World Cup nine months ago. in Qatar. “The national team needs a great coach, and I am very glad that he (Luciano Spalletti.— “b”) has accepted our offer,” said FIGC President Gabriele Gravina. “His enthusiasm and competence will serve as the foundation for meeting the challenges that await the Italian team in the coming months.”

FIGC’s choice came as no surprise. Even last Sunday, immediately after the resignation of Mancini, Spalletti’s name was first on the list of his possible successors. The 64-year-old specialist has vast experience in club work. Exactly 30 years have passed since he first got the opportunity to try himself as a head coach in the Empoli youth team. During this time, Spalletti won the Italian Cup twice with Roma (2006/07, 2007/08), from where he moved to Zenit St. Petersburg, with whom he also won the Russian Championship twice (2010, 2011/12) and one times – Russian Cup (2009/10).

However, Luciano Spalletti, an adherent of attacking football, achieved his main success at the moment last season at Napoli, who actually won the Italian championship unconditionally. True, he was not destined to continue working in Naples due to disagreements with club president Aurelio De Laurentiis: the specialist voluntarily terminated the contact that was valid until next summer. After that, an agreement was signed according to which, if Spalletti resumes professional activity this season, Napoli should receive compensation in the amount of €3 million. Whether this condition has been met has not yet been reported, but it is known that in Coverciano Spalletti will officially start on September 1, the first match of the qualifying tournament for Euro 2024 under his leadership, on the road against the national team of North Macedonia, the Italians will play on September 9, and after another three days they will host the Ukrainian team in Milan.

At the moment, in their qualifying group C, where the teams of England, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta also play, the Italians have played two matches (against the Maltese – 2:0 and the British – 1:2). In order to guarantee themselves a performance in the final stage already at the end of the group stage, the reigning European champions need to take at least the second place in this quintet.

Evgeny Fedyakov