Italian football’s latest institutional chapter is being written away from the touchline, with Adriano Galliani’s name returning to the centre of a growing political and sporting dispute. The former Milan and Monza executive, now a Forza Italia senator, is being discussed as a possible figure for the FIGC should the crisis around Giovanni Malagò deepen.
The coach and the club
There is a contingency being described in political circles as “Plan G”, a route that could be considered if another rupture opens within Italian football’s governing structure. Galliani has been mentioned as a possible commissioner for the FIGC, although he was not persuaded by the prospect when it was raised before the elections and remains unconvinced about taking on such a role now.
His profile nonetheless makes him an attractive option to those seeking a bridge between the game and the government. Galliani has spent years moving between football administration and public life, first through his long executive career at Milan, then at Monza, and now in the Senate.
The immediate pressure point is Malagò, the CONI president, whose position is under examination by the organisation’s executive board after questions over a missing registration. Malagò regards the issue as a pretext, much as he sees the separate debate around the rules on officials moving between public and private roles.
Whatever the eventual ruling, the affair is expected to bring institutional consequences. If Malagò retains his position, CONI itself could enter a period of crisis. If he does not, the prospect of placing the FIGC under a commissioner would become concrete.
A dispute beyond the pitch
The disagreement between the sports prosecutor and the federal prosecutor has made the political dimension harder to separate from the legal one. There are voices around Palazzo Chigi, and elsewhere in government, calling for a more direct intervention in football’s affairs.
Claudio Lotito has formally kept his distance from the discussion. Yet the debate has continued to circle back to Galliani, not necessarily as a permanent answer, but as a possible compromise between the executive and the football authorities.
For Serie A, the issue is not a Sunday-afternoon result but the framework in which the championship is governed. The coming decisions over Malagò may determine whether Italian football faces another administrative reset, and whether Galliani’s long connection with the game is called upon once more.
