Italy Appoint Former Man City Boss Roberto Mancini As New National Team Manager
Italy's FIGC have announced the appointment of former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini as their head coach.
This comes in the wake of Gian Piero Ventura's sacking after his failure to lead the nation to this year's World Cup. Gli Azzurri completed a disappointing qualifying round and won't be heading to Russia this summer, but they will have new blood at the helm.
"Roberto Mancini has signed as the new Italy Coach!" they announced via their official Twitter account. "@FIGC has reached an agreement with Mancini to start in the role and there will be an official presentation tomorrow at 12:00 CEST in Coverciano."
Mancini, who lead City to their first Premier League title in 44 years in the 2011/12 season, has signed a two-year deal for his latest venture.
Since leaving the Etihad five years ago, the 53-year-old has worked at Galatasaray and Internazionale before heading to Russia to manage Zenit St Petersburg last year.
ROBERT MICHAEL/GettyImages
Mancini agreed to have his contract terminated by the Russian outfit on Sunday and is now his country's new boss, having made 36 outings for the Italian national side as a player.
Italy were hoping to bring Antonio Conte back, but the Chelsea boss seems intent on seeing out his contract - although that is unlikely to happen - while Carlo Ancelotti is understood to have turned an offer down as well.
Luigi di Biagio had taken up the job on an interim basis, stepping up from the Under-21 set-up, but he has since stepped back down to accommodate the new man.
