The surprise resignation of Roberto Mancini as coach of the men’s national football team has put one of the oldest, most controversial and most delicate roles in Italian football at the center of the sporting debate. In fact, the position of technical commissioner originated in the early years of the diffusion of the sport in Italy and over time it has changed a lot: however, the pressures, discussions and criticisms that have always surrounded him have not changed.
Given the popularity achieved by football in the decade following the establishment of the Football Federation (FIGC), in January 1910 the then federal president, Luigi Bosisio, officially formed the national team, whose composition was entrusted to the referees, then considered the most expert connoisseurs of the game. Thus was born the technical commission: a group of experts appointed from time to time by the Federation to follow the preparation of the national team in view of its commitments. The referee and former Milanese footballer Umberto Meazza was appointed as head of the first technical commission: from this practice derives the name of “technical commissioner” still in use today and also extended to the women’s and youth national teams.
Over the years, however, the role of the technical commissioner has changed a lot: in fact, compared to the past, only the name has remained, which does not reflect so much the current characteristics of the position. However, the recent difficulties of the national team, which has remained out of two consecutive World Cups as never before in its history, have broadened the responsibilities of this figure, bringing him closer to his origins in a certain sense.
Enzo Bearzot and Dino Zoff, coach and captain of the national team at the 1978 World Cup (LaPresse)
Compared to the 1990s, today the role of coach of the national team involves greater responsibilities and therefore more time. The establishment of training internships in the Coverciano technical centre, for example, was introduced on a stable basis by Antonio Conte between 2014 and 2016. It was a way to involve more players in the national team and to lengthen the periods dedicated to training in way to compensate with the preparation for the lack of quality players highlighted by the many problems we have had in recent years.
Another significant change was presented just a few days ago, and it’s one of the main reasons why Mancini’s resignation surprised everyone a bit. At the beginning of August the FIGC had in fact defined, on a proposal from Mancini himself, the new set-up of the men’s national teams, from the senior team up to the youth teams, with the “objective of enhancing the Italian football heritage”. It was essentially a reform of the so-called “Club Italia”, i.e. the body that brings together all the national teams and coordinates the management of their activities to standardize working methods and encourage dialogue and connections between the various categories.
If this reorganization is maintained even after Mancini’s resignation, from now on the technical commissioner “will directly deal with the selection and technical activities of the A, Under 21 and Under 20 national teams to apply the same styles and systems of play, favoring and speeding up technical learning». As supervisor of this system, Maurizio Viscidi is still in charge, whose role as technical director provides for “a continuous and reciprocal link” with the technical commissioner and with each staff assigned to the national teams.
For the technical commissioner, these recent assignments are added to the traditional ones of research, selection and preparation of the senior national team which cover the duration of one season. For Italy, the last season ended in June with the final phase of the Nations League; the start of the next one, on the other hand, coincides more or less with the new season of the club teams, which is starting these days. After its first few days, Serie A will in fact stop for the start of the international season. For Italy, the first appointments are the qualifiers for next year’s European Championships in Germany, which is the last and most important appointment of the 2023/24 season.
Roberto Mancini with Wilfried Gnonto in his last match as coach (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse)
From 2018 to last March, Mancini had called up a total of 104 players: 12 goalkeepers, 34 defenders, 25 midfielders and 33 forwards. Many of these have never been used in official meetings, but only involved in training stages to be evaluated and, if necessary, trained so as not to arrive totally unprepared for a possible call in case of need.
The greatest difficulties concerned and still concern the forwards: there are few Italians and if there are no starters, the others don’t play enough in their clubs, and if they play they score little. Due to these difficulties, in recent years another task of the technical commissioner and his staff has come into play, namely that of going abroad to find players with Italian origins. The most emblematic case was that of Mateo Retegui, an Argentine striker with Italian grandparents who, after accepting the call-up and making his debut (scoring) favored his involvement with the national team by coming to play in Italy, with Genoa.
Retegui had previously been one of several players with Italian ancestry singled out by Mancini and his staff. Some already play in Italy, such as Bruno Amione from Verona and Valentin Carboni from Inter; others have come to play recently, such as Juventus’ Facundo Gonzalez and Fiorentina’s Lucas Beltran, who as a striker could soon be called up alongside Retegui. All the others remain abroad, especially in South America and Northern Europe, whose championships are monitored continuously by the coaching commissioner’s staff, as are Serie A and all the tournaments deemed of particular interest.
2023-08-14 11:14:26
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