A blunt message for Italian football
Italian football does not need another cosmetic fix, according to Coni president Luciano Buonfiglio. Speaking on the sidelines of the presentation of Allenare diversamente, the book by Alessandro Donati, the longtime coach linked to Alex Schwazer, and Francesco Marcello, Buonfiglio said the next FIGC president should come with an actual program, not just a fresh label for the same old problems.
“What does football need to do? A careful analysis, choose a president with a clear plan and ask for government measures, but changing only a name changes nothing at all.”
Not exactly a rallying cry for the shiny new era crowd, but the point was hard to miss.
The vote is set for June 22
The election for the new FIGC president will take place on June 22, a date set alongside Gabriele Gravina’s resignation. Buonfiglio argued that this should be the right moment to stop talking in circles and start building what he called the "ten commandments" of what must be done so that, in four to six years, the national team can be discussed again for the right reasons.
He made clear that the national team depends on what happens at club level, saying, in effect, that the clubs do the heavy lifting and everyone else gets to judge the results after the fact.
“I think this is the right time, regardless of the names, to build the ten commandments of what is needed so that in four to six years we can talk about the national team again, because, as I have already said, even informally, the national team lives on the work of the clubs.”
The not-so-subtle reference was to the modest European results many Italian clubs have produced in recent years. In other words, if the league keeps underdelivering, the national team will not magically fix itself because someone in a nicer suit gets elected.
Malagò stays out of it
Asked whether Giovanni Malagò might enter the race, Buonfiglio kept the door open only in the most ceremonial sense.
“The president of Coni can only cheer for clear planning, regardless of the names, whom I respect all of them, but we cannot run an election campaign.”
That line was followed by an equally careful silence from Malagò himself, who was also present at the book presentation at the CPO. He declined to wade into football politics and handed the matter right back to Buonfiglio.
“I have nothing to say about football, Buonfiglio already said everything.”
A tidy way to avoid the subject, which in sports governance is often treated as a technical discipline.
Velasco and the joke that went global
Then came the inevitable side note. Someone, perhaps joking and perhaps not, floated the name of Julio Velasco as a possible FIGC president. Velasco, who has led Italy’s women’s volleyball team to record results, took the idea exactly as it deserved.
“Me, president of FIGC? It was an April Fool’s joke that even reached Argentina. Certain roles require specific expertise.”
That was the end of the matter, at least for now. The election is still ahead, Gravina has stepped aside, and the usual debate over names versus plans is already in full swing. Which, in Italian football, is often as close as things get to a strategy.
