FIGC: Malagò appointed commissioner and new elections to be held by 31 January

A formal appointment of an administrator due to a technical irregularity. The sports policy row that has dominated the headlines for months – namely the ineligibility of Giovanni Malagò, former president of CONI and member of the International Olympic Committee, the ‘federation of federations’, at the FIGC due to his failure to register in advance with the Italian Football Federation itself, has been resolved through a compromise, the result of an agreement between the current CONI president, Luciano Buonfiglio, and Malagò himself.

Yesterday, the Executive Committee and the National Council of CONI voted in quick succession and unanimously in favour of placing the FIGC under special administration, whilst appointing Malagò directly as administrator.

The Italian Football Federation’s elective assembly to elect the new president must be held no later than 31 January 2027. Technically, according to the Articles of Association, the elections must take place between 60 and 90 days after the appointment of the administrators.

There was, therefore, no sign of the anticipated battle of legal opinions that CONI and the FIGC had sought in recent weeks from eminent legal experts; above all, a head-on clash between the two sporting bodies has been avoided – with the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, acting more as an “interested observer” in the affair – which could have led to appeals to the administrative courts and had unpredictable consequences for the balance of Italian sport.

CONI, through its president Buonfiglio, thus claims to have upheld a principle of formal legitimacy, given the acknowledgement of the error arising from the absence of a requirement for the election, namely membership of the federation at the time of standing for the presidency.