Antonio Conte’s name is back in the frame for the Italy job, and this time the green light is coming from a powerful – and unexpected – source: Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.
The position lies vacant after Gennaro Gattuso walked away in the aftermath of Italy’s World Cup play-off final defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina, a result that plunged the federation into open crisis and triggered fresh demands for a complete reset at the top of Italian football.
In that storm, Conte stands out as the obvious heavyweight. A former Azzurri boss, a serial winner at club level, and a coach whose intensity mirrors the scale of the rebuilding task.
Conte, the unfinished chapter with the Azzurri
Conte’s first spell in charge of Italy began in 2014, straight after his successful stint at Juventus. Across 25 matches with the national team he delivered 14 wins and lost only five, driving a limited squad to the Euro 2016 quarter-finals, where they fell on penalties to Germany.
That shootout in Bordeaux closed his chapter with the Azzurri, but it did not slow his rise. He took Chelsea to the Premier League title, then returned to Italy to win Serie A with Inter, before guiding Napoli to the Scudetto last season. His CV now carries league titles in two countries and the kind of authority that many in Italy believe the federation desperately needs.
The vacancy, the turmoil, the need for a strong hand: all roads naturally lead to Conte’s name. And De Laurentiis has made it clear he will not stand in the way.
“If Antonio asked me…”
Speaking to CalcioNapoli24, the Napoli president addressed the growing noise around Conte and the Azzurri bench. His stance was blunt: Napoli would not block their coach from taking the national team if the call came.
“Conte new coach of the national team? If Antonio asked me, I think I would say yes,” De Laurentiis said, framing it as a matter of respect for his manager and the prestige of the role.
Then came the sting.
He questioned why Conte would even want to walk into the current chaos at the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). De Laurentiis described a structure without “a serious interlocutor” and “completely disorganised”, and suggested that Conte, whom he called “very intelligent”, would ultimately pull back from leading such a setup.
The message was clear: Napoli will not chain Conte to the club. The real problem, in De Laurentiis’ eyes, lies in Rome, not in Naples.
FIGC under fire after another World Cup collapse
The pressure on the FIGC had been building for years. Bosnia-Herzegovina’s victory in the play-off final simply blew the lid off.
Italy’s qualification campaign lurched from one misstep to another. It started under Luciano Spalletti and ended under Gattuso, who was drafted in late to rescue a fading World Cup dream. Gattuso delivered six wins from eight matches, but the two defeats – one to Norway in the final group game, the other to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the play-off – defined his short reign and darkened the mood around the entire project.
The damage goes far beyond one coach or one campaign. Italy will now miss the World Cup in 2018, 2022 and 2026 – three consecutive tournaments without the Azzurri on the biggest stage. For a four-time world champion, it is a brutal indictment of deeper structural failure.
The fallout has already claimed major figures. FIGC president Gabriele Gravina stepped down, followed by delegation chief Gianluigi Buffon. The power vacuum at the top only sharpens the question: who is actually steering Italian football?
“Cinderella” Serie A and a call for Malagò
De Laurentiis has not limited himself to criticism. He has a candidate and a plan.
He has thrown his support behind Giovanni Malagò, the current president of CONI, backing him as the right man to take over the FIGC first as commissioner and then as full president. In De Laurentiis’ view, Malagò has the profile and authority to rebuild a federation that has lost its way.
The Napoli president also turned his fire on the FIGC’s internal power balance, arguing that Serie A – the financial engine of the sport in Italy – is sidelined in decision-making despite bankrolling the system.
“Italian football is Serie A which is considered like a Cinderella, it only has 18% in terms of the federation, while the amateurs and the players have the majority,” he said. “This is an absurdity considering that without Serie A the federation would not exist and considering that we finance it with a good €130 million a year.”
The numbers are stark: top-flight clubs, according to De Laurentiis, pour around €130 million annually into the federation, yet hold a minority share of its power. To him, that imbalance is not just unfair; it is one of the roots of the current collapse.
Conte between club success and a broken system
So the stage is set. Italy need a commanding figure on the bench. Conte is free, proven, and already woven into the Azzurri’s recent history. His club president has publicly cleared the path.
But the same voice that opens the door also warns that the house is falling down.
For Conte, the decision, if the FIGC eventually comes calling, will not be about prestige. It will be about whether he trusts the people above him to match his demands, his standards, his obsession with order and detail.
Until Italian football fixes the structure De Laurentiis calls “completely disorganised”, the biggest question is not whether Conte is ready for Italy.
It is whether Italy are ready for Conte.
