The Italian Luciano Spalletti, former Napoli coachwas appointed this Friday by the Italian Federation (FIGC) as the new Italy coach after the unexpected resignation of Roberto Mancini last Sunday, with less than a year to go before the start of Euro 2024.
“The Italian Football Federation announces that it has reached an agreement with
Luciano Spalletti for the position of coach of the Italian national team,” reported the FIGC.
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What has been done
“The Tuscan coach will assume his position from September 1, 2023 and the official presentation will take place on the occasion of the Azzurri meeting, scheduled for the first days of September, at the Coverciano Federal Technical Center“The agency added in the statement.
Spalleti signed a contract for the next three years, until 2026. Neither the coach nor the Federation have paid Napoli the 3.2 million euro clause that in the first instance prevented the coach from signing for any team this season, according to local media reports.
The reason, according to the aforementioned sources, would be that both parties -FIGC and Spalletti- would have consulted with their respective legal teams and do not see problems when facing a possible demand for the group that presides Aurelius DeLaurentiis.
In this way, Spalletti, who was always the federation’s first option, begins a new stage after the success achieved with Napoli, whom he led to lift the third ‘Scudetto’ in its history, the first without Diego Armando Maradona.
A ‘Scudetto’ that was very special for the coach born in Florence (north), to whom it seemed that the domestic title was being elusive throughout his career. He had to leave Italy, to the Russian Zenit Saint Petersburg, to manage to lift one in 2010. Of course, before the feat with Naples, Spalletti lifted two Italian Cups and one Italian Super Cup with Roma.
Spalletti was always the FIGC’s first option although, due to the difficulty and uncertainty generated by the existence of the clause with Napoli, the organization always had Antonio Conte, former Italian coach (2014-16) and former coach of Tottneham, Chelsea, Inter or Juventus, among others.
The new coach will make his debut at the helm of the ‘Azzurra’ against North Macedonia – a team he left out of the Qatar World Cup 2022 to Mancini’s Italy- on September 9, in a qualifying match for the next Euro 2024.
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