Italian football is preparing to return Giovanni Malagò to the federal presidency, with the election assembly set for 14 December at the Hilton Airport hotel in Fiumicino. After the Federal Council’s collapse brought a commissioner-led period, the expectation across the game is that Malagò will resume the mandate he first won in June.
Key takeaways
- The FIGC electoral assembly will begin at 11am on Monday 14 December in Fiumicino.
- Malagò is expected to seek the presidency again after receiving 68.58% of the vote in June.
- Serie A is likely to provide his nomination, requiring support from at least 11 of its 20 clubs.
- Candidate papers, including a programme and federation registration, must be filed by 4 November.
- Giancarlo Abete does not intend to stand, while no serious rival has emerged.
- A total of 273 delegates from the professional, amateur, players’ and coaches’ sectors will be entitled to vote.
A return built on continuity
Malagò will formally call the assembly, but the date was settled following consultations between the various parties involved. The intention is to move quickly beyond the interim arrangement and restore a full federal leadership for the next Olympic four-year cycle.
The Serie A League, which backed Malagò in the June election, is expected to nominate him once more. Relations with some clubs may no longer be precisely as they were three and a half months ago, but recent club statements have reinforced their support for the president and commissioner. A simple majority of the 20 Serie A members is sufficient for a nomination, and Malagò is considered likely to clear that threshold comfortably even if he does not repeat the backing of 19 clubs secured previously.
His candidacy must then be completed by 4 November, 40 days before the ballot. Alongside the political programme, the required declarations and formal registration must be submitted. The precise club through which Malagò will take out his federation membership has yet to be determined, although it is expected to be an organisation with a social commitment.
Abete’s decision not to run leaves no obvious challenger in the field. The wider Italian football movement, including the National Amateur League, has repeatedly treated Malagò’s earlier election as valid and opposed the need for a commissioner. The prevailing aim is to restore the work interrupted by the Federal Council’s fall, with reforms given greater institutional backing under an elected president.
How the FIGC vote will unfold
The presidential ballot will involve 273 delegates representing Serie A, Serie B, Lega Pro, the National Amateur League, the Italian Footballers’ Association and the Italian Coaches’ Association. The winner needs more than half of the votes available among accredited delegates present at the assembly; that same threshold applies should the contest go to a run-off.
If there is one candidate, or two candidates, the assembly may hold up to three rounds of voting to choose the president. Voting is secret and conducted electronically, with each delegate able to select only one candidate.
Before the presidential election, each part of the game will elect its own members to the Federal Council. The distribution is as follows:
- Serie A: four representatives.
- Serie B: two representatives.
- Lega Pro: two representatives.
- National Amateur League: six representatives, including its league presidents who sit by right.
- Players: four representatives, split equally between professional and amateur football, with at least one member from a gender different to the majority.
- Coaches: two representatives, one from professional football and one from the amateur game.
The calendar gives Italian football two months to close an institutional interruption that has arrived twice in the same year. For the clubs, leagues, players and coaches, the purpose is not simply to repeat June’s vote, but to give the federation the stability required to continue its unfinished reform agenda.
