"Thank you, I'm honored. But at the moment, I don't feel up to the task." That was Pep Guardiola, turning down Italy — and with those words, the FIGC pivoted fast to Andrea Pirlo.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport and La Repubblica, the 47-year-old is set to sign a four-year contract as Squadra Azzurra head coach, targeting the 2030 World Cup. The annual salary is reported at over €1.5 million plus bonuses. No official confirmation yet, but the framework is apparently in place.
A bold call — or a desperate one?
Pirlo's coaching record doesn't exactly inspire confidence. One season at Juventus that ended in Europa League football and an early exit. A stint at Sampdoria that went nowhere. He's currently contracted to United FC Dubai in the UAE. This isn't a coach with a proven system or a track record of tactical development — it's a famous name attached to a federation that's run out of better options.
Italy has missed three consecutive World Cups. Three. For a nation with four world titles, that's not a rough patch — it's a structural collapse. Gennaro Gattuso, Pirlo's former midfield partner in the 2006 triumph, resigned after the latest failure to qualify. Now the FIGC is handing the rebuild to a man who watched Germany remember him fondly for setting up Fabio Grosso's winner in extra time in that same tournament.
Nostalgia is a dangerous foundation for a coaching appointment.
The options they passed on
Roberto Mancini was in the frame — the man who actually won Euro 2020 with this squad. But his reputation never recovered from ditching the job for Saudi Arabia in 2023, mid-cycle. That he was even considered again tells you how thin the candidate list was.
Guardiola, who has won the Champions League three times and twelve league titles across Barcelona, Bayern, and City, would have been a generational hire. He's currently on a sabbatical. The Italians asked. He declined politely.
So Pirlo it is. Italy's World Cup qualifying odds just got a lot harder to call — and not in a good way.
