FIGC leadership battle heads to CONI vote amid conflicting legal opinions
The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) is set to decide on 6 October whether to place the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) under emergency administration, following a split among legal experts over the validity of Giovanni Malagò’s election as president. The outcome hinges on two sharply opposed interpretations of the FIGC statute and the voting rights of key participants.
Malagò’s legal team: election is final
Five jurists commissioned by FIGC — including constitutional law scholar Sabino Cassese and former Court of Cassation judge Saverio Ruperto — concluded that Malagò’s candidacy and subsequent election on 22 June 2026 are legally binding and cannot be reversed. Their reasoning rests on two key points:
• Article 24.5 of the FIGC statute, governing the president’s qualifications, makes no mention of tesseramento (federal membership registration), whereas Article 29.19, which applies to other sports directors, does.
• The jurists argue that the president, as an administrative head, is not required to be an active athlete, and thus the tesseramento rule — designed for players and technical staff — does not apply.
Ruperto further emphasized that the seven-day window to challenge Malagò’s candidacy expired without action from the FIGC Prosecutor or other legitimate parties. Only one candidate, Renato Miele, filed a complaint — later dismissed at all judicial levels. According to the experts, Malagò’s election is now “intangible”, a term used to describe a decision so firmly established that no body, not even CONI, can overturn it.
CONI’s jurists: registration is mandatory
Contrary to FIGC’s position, four legal consultants hired by CONI — Scoca, Medugno, Coccia, and Angeletti — maintain that tesseramento is an essential qualification for all candidates to federal leadership roles, including the presidency. They argue that electing someone who failed to register constitutes a structural breach of the statute, potentially justifying the appointment of a commissioner.
Yet even these experts stopped short of calling for immediate intervention. Instead, they advised CONI’s governing bodies to assess the case through a technical-legal lens, not political pressure, leaving the final call to the committee’s vote on 6 October.
Voting rights in question: Bianchedi and Spina
Another layer of complexity surrounds the eligibility of two high-ranking officials to vote:
• Diana Bianchedi, CONI’s vice president and former head of the national team delegation, resigned from her FIGC role on 30 September. The National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) confirmed on 2 October that no legal incompatibility existed between her dual roles — but added that whether she may vote falls entirely to CONI’s discretion, due to potential conflict-of-interest concerns.
• Elisabet Spina, who resigned from a FIGC directorship on 1 October, is similarly under scrutiny. Preliminary signals from CONI suggested abstention under Article 7.4 of its statute, but no final ruling has been made.
The outcome may hinge on whether CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio chooses to exercise his authority to determine voter eligibility — a power he has so far kept ambiguous.
What’s next after 6 October?
Whichever way the vote goes, legal challenges are virtually certain.
• The losing side may appeal to CONI’s Guarantor College, the highest internal sports court, within ten days of the decision.
• From there, recourse to the Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale del Lazio (TAR) is possible on grounds of procedural illegality or abuse of power.
• A final appeal could be brought to the Council of State, Italy’s highest administrative tribunal.
The dispute has exposed deep fissures within Italian sports governance, where legal texts are interpreted differently by institutional allies, personal loyalties influence decision-making, and technical rules collide with political urgency. For now, the ball remains in CONI’s court — and the stakes, for Italian football’s future, are higher than ever.
*This article reflects developments up to 5 October 2026. All facts are sourced from public statements by ANAC, CONI, FIGC, and the cited legal experts.
