Report: CONI President Buonfiglio at risk if attempt to remove Malagò is unsuccessful

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ITALY - MARCH 5: Giovanni Malago, President of the Organising Committee for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, speaks during the mural inauguration ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games at the Cortina Paralympic Village on March 05, 2026 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. (Photo by Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images for IPC)

It has become a case of ‘if not one than the other’ at the top of the sporting governing bodies in Italy, as reports claim that CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio is at risk of losing his job if his attempt to remove FIGC President Giovanni Malagò proves unsuccessful.

One or the other? Buonfiglio untenable if Malagò saga doesn’t go his way

The leadership at the highest levels of Italian football has descended into chaos once again.

Malagò was appointed as the head of the Italian FA in June following the resignation of Gabriele Gravina, but he is already facing the very genuine possibility of having to step down less than four months into the job due to the fact that he was technically ineligible to run for the Presidency. 

That is because Malagò, who had previously served as the President of CONI (the Italian Olympic Committee, which oversees all of the nation’s sporting activity) was not a registered member of the FIGC (Italian FA) at the time of the most recent Presidential election. 

Current CONI President Buonfiglio has publicly recognised the fact that Malagò was not eligible to run for the FIGC Presidency, and he is expected to call a meeting of the CONI board on October 7 to discuss the matter. 

If Malagò is removed from his position as President of the FIGC, then a special administration will be placed in emergency charge of the organisation, before a new round of elections take place, which wouldn’t be likely to happen until the end of 2026 or early 2027 at the earliest. 

Malagò could still run for the FIGC Presidency again if he is removed, but re-election is now looking like a tougher procedure than his original election campaign. 

However, according to Tuesday’s reports from La Gazzetta dello Sport, Malagò is not the only one at risk of being removed from their current position. 

The Pink Paper reports that if Buonfiglio is unsuccessful in his attempt to remove Malagò as President of the FIGC, then his position as President of CONI would likely become untenable as a result. 

La Gazzetta dello Sport notes that it is too early to call how this saga will definitively unfold, but as things stand, both Malagò and Buonfiglio are left counting up the potential votes in their favour.