Italy's Football Federation Explores Guardiola Appointment

Italian network Sky reported that Paolo Maldini, the newly appointed technical director of the Italian Football Federation, along with Leonardo, the federation's advisor, visited Pep Guardiola over the weekend to explore the possibility of hiring him.

The report stated that there are no initial indications that Guardiola has agreed to take on the role following his departure from Manchester City, where he spent ten years.

Italy, a four-time World Cup champion, failed to qualify for the World Cup for the third consecutive time last March. This failure led to the dismissal of the team's coach Gennaro Gattuso, team manager Gianluigi Buffon, and the president of the Italian Football Federation, Gabriele Gravina.

Giovanni Malagò, the former president of the Italian Olympic Committee and head of the organizing committee for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, was elected as the new president of the Italian Football Federation. Malagò appointed Milan legend Paolo Maldini as the federation's technical director.

Italy's national team remains without a coach, and signing Guardiola would represent a significant boost given the Spanish coach's achievements, including three UEFA Champions League titles with Manchester City and Barcelona, as well as 12 domestic league titles with the same clubs and Bayern Munich.

Malagò declined to comment on the possibility of hiring Guardiola, telling Sky that the list of candidates is not limited to Roberto Mancini and Andrea Pirlo alone.