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Aurelio De Laurentiis believes Giovanni Malagò is the best candidate for FIGC President, stating that Giancarlo Abete is 'not a good fit.' The FIGC Presidential election is scheduled for June 22, 2026.
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De Laurentiis: Abete ânot a good fitâ for FIGC President role, Malagò has just one âflawâ
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis insists Giovanni Malagò is the most-suited candidate to become the FIGC President and ârebuildâ Italian football, while Giancarlo Abete âis a dear friend, but is not a good fit.â
Malagò and Abete are expected to be the only two candidates at the FIGC Presidential election taking place on June 22, 2026.
Malagò, a former CONI President, is the candidate picked by Lega Serie A, and today representatives of clubs in Italyâs top flight will meet the 67-year-old to outline their project.
Abete, on the other hand, already served as the FIGC President from 2007 to 2014 and is backed by Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (LND), which accounts for 34% of the vote, compared to Serie Aâs 18%.
Any candidate, however, needs to secure 51% of the vote to be elected, so Malagò and Abete need to win over other members of the voting panel to win the election.
Napoli President De Laurentiis once again backed Malagò just before the beginning of the Lega Serie A meeting in Milan today.
NAPLES, ITALY â DECEMBER 12: Aurelio De Laurentiis President during the UEFA Champions League match between SCC Napoli and SC Braga at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on December 12, 2023 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
De Laurentiis considers Abete a dear friend but believes he is 'not a good fit' for the role of FIGC President.
The candidates for the FIGC Presidential election are Giovanni Malagò and Giancarlo Abete.
Giovanni Malagò is a former President of CONI, Italy's National Olympic Committee.
The FIGC Presidential election is scheduled for June 22, 2026.

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âI called Malagò, telling him to take charge of the situation because no one can do this better than him,â De Laurentiis said via TMW.
âHeâs an entrepreneur and a sportsman with plenty of experience. The only flaw is that heâs in love with Roma, but weâll put up with that, too,â he added, smiling.
âWe are tired of being led by people who have institutional roles just for personal prestige. The most important thing in life is to work, but to do that, you need knowledge. Nobody more than an entrepreneur who does business can fix things that donât work. From my perspective, Mr Malagò is welcome.
ROME, ITALY â DECEMBER 01: Giancarlo Abete President of LND poses during the FIGC DCPS press conference at Europa Experience on December 01, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)
âAbete is a dear friend and a person I truly respect. His brother is a business partner in one of my companies, but heâs not a good fit for this job,â De Laurentiis continued.
âPerhaps, heâll be upset, but we are accustomed to expressing our thoughts in a democracy, even if Italians, by nature, are cowards.
CORTINA DâAMPEZZO, ITALY â MARCH 15: Giovanni Malago, President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 delivers a speech during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games closing ceremony at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium on March 15, 2026 in Cortina dâAmpezzo, Italy. (Photo by Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)
âWe wait for Malagò and hope his ideas match ours. Football in Italy has to be rebuilt. They say Iâm a visionary, but I came from the world of cinema in 2004, and Iâve been annoyingly saying since then that everythingâs old and that kids wouldnât watch matches anymore. But nobody is there to listen because everyone is just thinking about their seats.â