Will Gennaro Gattuso become Italy's new coach? © APA/afp / LLUIS GENE

Italy job: Suddenly Gattuso is the favorite

One year before the World Cup, Italy must continue its search for a new national coach. The national football association rejected their preferred candidate, Claudio Ranieri, after only a few days of consideration. Now, Gennaro Gattuso is said to be the hot favorite for the position.

June 10, 2025

From: dpa

The 73-year-old former coach of AS Roma described the offer to take over the once again struggling Squadra Azzurra as a "great honor." After some thought, however, Ranieri decided otherwise. Stefano Pioli was considered the second hot candidate. However, because the former AC Milan champion coach is also set to move to AC Fiorentina, a 2006 World Cup winner is now considered the favorite to succeed the sacked Luciano Spalletti: Gennaro Gattuso.

The long-time Milan professional won the World Cup with the Italians in Germany in 2006 and, as coach, won the national cup with SSC Napoli in 2020. Further stints at Milan, FC Valencia, Olympique Marseille, and Hajduk Split, however, were unsuccessful.

Claudio Ranieri will not be Italy's coach. © ANSA / SIMONE ARVEDA / FTJ

Four-time world champions Italy currently fear that they won't be able to qualify for next year's World Cups in the USA, Canada, and Mexico after missing two consecutive tournaments. In Spalletti's last match, they only managed a meager 2-0 (1-0) victory against Moldova in qualifying on Monday evening. Topping the group is currently a distant prospect. Norway is far ahead.

World Cup heroes of 2006 in focus

Spalletti was sacked after a disgraceful 0-3 defeat to the Norwegians at the weekend. Ranieri was considered the top candidate. The Roman native stepped in at short notice at his old club last season, despite already being retired. He will work as a consultant for the capital club. He now thanked the association for the offer. "But I thought about it and decided to be fully available to Roma in my new role."

Daniele De Rossi is also said to be in the running. © ANSA / Alessandro Di Marco / Z63

Since Ranieri and Pioli are unavailable and other prominent Italian coaches such as Carlo Ancelotti (national coach of Brazil), Antonio Conte (SSC Napoli) and Massimiliano Allegri (AC Milan) are under contract, association president Gabriele Gravina is concentrating his search on the 2006 World Cup heroes. In addition to Gattuso, Fabio Cannavaro (most recently Dinamo Zagreb) and Daniele De Rossi (most recently AS Roma) are also among the candidates.