ROME: Giovanni Malago, who headed the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, presented his bid for the presidency of Italy’s football federation (FIGC) on Wednesday.

Former FIGC president Giancarlo Abete, the only other candidate for the job ahead of the vote on June 22, also presented a rival bid.

Italian football was sent into a tailspin in March after the men’s national team failed for a third consecutive time to qualify for the World Cup, with Gabriele Gravina stepping down as FIGC chief.

Coach Gennaro Gattuso and team general manager Gianluigi Buffon also resigned following elimination in the qualification play-offs by Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Malago was president of the Milan-Cortina organising committee and also head of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the country’s highest sporting body, between 2013 and 2025.

The 67-year-old is the heavy favourite to replace Gravina as he already had the backing of Serie A and the players and coaches associations, which together count for 48 per cent of the votes.

And on Tuesday, Serie B, which controls six percent of the votes, also said it would back Malago, although that decision was contingent on a review of the two candidates’ programmes for the FIGC.

Whoever follows Gravina will not only have to appoint a new national team coach, but also satisfy a long-standing desire for reform within the FIGC and head Italy’s part of Euro 2032, which is being co-hosted with Turkey.

Last month UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin told the Gazzetta Dello Sport that Italy could lose the tournament due to the condition of the country’s football stadiums, which he called “some of the worst in Europe”.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2026