UEFA warning: a commissioner at the FIGC would cost Italy Euro 2032
epa10911065 The UEFA Euro trophy is pictured after Italy and Turkey were elected to host the Euro 2032 fooball tournament during the UEFA EURO 2028 and 2032 hosts announcement ceremony at UEFA Headquarters, in Nyon, Switzerland, 10 October 2023. EPA-EFE/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT
Italy’s hosting of Euro 2032 is at risk if a political commissioner is installed at the FIGC, with UEFA having made its position explicit.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, via Il Napolista, Aleksander Ceferin spelled this out directly in recent days: political interference in the federation would cost Italy the tournament, as it did Greece.
The distinction being drawn at Nyon matters as if Giovanni Malago’s election is ruled invalid and fresh elections follow immediately, there is no problem. Installing a commissioner instead of going back to the ballot is what would trigger consequences.
UEFA unimpressed by the technicality as Italy crisis drags on
The dispute centres on Malago’s registration, a procedural point that Gazzetta reports is viewed as absurd in Nyon, given he won the election comfortably with the backing of almost every component and no irregularities were alleged by observers.
Gazzetta also notes that Ceferin and Malago are not close, and that the UEFA president would have preferred to continue with Gabriele Gravina.
The newspaper’s argument is that there is no case for political involvement at all: the federation’s finances are in order and there are no administrative irregularities or scandals.
The stakes extend beyond the tournament itself. Losing Euro 2032 would also remove the clearest incentive for Italy to modernise its stadiums, an area where the gap to the rest of Europe is already significant.
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