Pep Guardiola has turned down the chance of being the next manager of Italy leaving Andrea Pirlo, currently coach of Dubai-based United FC, as front-runner for the job.
On Wednesday, Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Giovanni Malago Malago revealed that talks had been held with former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City manager Guardiola over replacing Gennaro Gattuso as national team manager.
Malago also admitted that Pirlo and Roberto Mancini – who guided Italy to Euro 2020 glory before quitting to take over as Saudi Arabia coach in 2023 – had also been approached about taking over.
The following day, new FIGC technical director Paulo Maldini revealed that current Brazil national team boss Carlos Ancelotti had also been spoken to.
“Honestly, today we can’t give news about what’s happening. You’ve identified one of our targets,” Maldini said when asked about Guardiola in a news conference.
“We can’t hide that we also talked with Carlo Ancelotti before talking with Pep. Honestly, it seemed right to start with the best in the world, to see their general availability.
“The best thing would be to announce the new coach this week, but even more to wait for the person we really wan. So there’s urgency, but not so much inside us.”
But on Friday it emerged that Italy had failed in their bid to persuade Guardiola, who left his last job at Premier League club City in May citing fatigue, to take the job.
Reports suggest that Guardiola, 55, had decided to stick to his original plan of taking a break from football and spend more time with his family. Ancelotti, 67, is also not in the running and will be continuing with his task of trying to revitalise a stagnant Brazil team.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Guardiola was looking for an annual salary of €20 million which is thought to be twice what FIGC can offer despite Malago's suggestion that financial “exceptions” could be made for the Catalonian.
Guardiola left City at the end of last season after a glittering decade in charge in which he won six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four in succession, as well as three FA Cups, five League Cups and the Uefa Champions League.
Before arriving at City in 2016, Guardiola enjoyed similarly remarkable success at Barca, where he won two Champions League titles and three La Liga crowns, before adding three Bundesliga titles during his spell at Bayern.
For Italy, the search goes on as they look to end a disastrous run of failing to make the last three World Cup finals – 2018, 2022 and 2026 – and it looks like they could well turn to former midfield maestro Pirlo.
The 47-year-old moved to the UAE in July 2025, guiding four-year-old Dubai club United FC to the top-flight after finishing second in the First Division last season.
His managerial record is mixed having led Juventus to the Italian Supercup and Coppa Italia in what was his first coaching job only to be sacked by the Old Lady after just one season in charge as results fell away.
Pirlo then had a shot spell at Turkish club Fatih Karagumruk before taking over at Serie B side Sampdoria in June 2023 but was sacked at the start of the 2024/25 campaign after taking one point from their first three games.
In a sparkling playing career, Pirlo won 116 caps for Italy while securing six Serie A titles, two Uefa Champions Leagues as well as Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup crowns during spells at AC Milan and Juventus.
