Claudio Ranieri turned down top job in Italian football.
Gennaro Gattuso has been named as the new manager of the Italian national football team, Italy’s football federation (FIGC) said on Sunday.
The former AC Milan and Napoli manager succeeds Luciano Spalletti who was sacked after a 3-0 defeat to Norway in a World Cup qualifier.
Gattuso, 47, made 73 appearances for Italy and was a member of the country’s World Cup-winning squad in 2006.
Two decades later, Gattuso is now tasked with getting Italy to next year’s World Cup, after they missed out on the last two editions of the tournament.
In a statement, FIGC president Gabriele Gravina hailed Gattuso as “a symbol of Italian football – the blue jersey is like a second skin for him. His motivations, his professionalism and his experience will be fundamental to best face the upcoming commitments of the National Team.”
Spalletti, 66, departed last week after almost two years at the helm, announcing his own sacking during an emotional news conference.
His final match as manager – a Word Cup qualifier against Moldova last Monday – saw the Azzurri win 2-0.
Spalletti said he was “disappointed” to be relieved of his duties however he acknowledged that his dismissal was based on “negative results”, amid fears that Italy could fail to qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row.
Veteran manager Claudio Ranieri, who had been tipped as a frontrunner for the job, turned down the top role last week to honour his new position as senior advisor to AS Roma, saying he would remain at the Rome club’s “full disposal”.
Ranieri, 73, recently stepped down as Roma manager after leading the club to fifth place in Serie A and securing a Europa League spot, but will stay on in an advisory capacity to assist new head coach, Gian Piero Gasperini.
Photo credit: sbonsi / Shutterstock.com.
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