The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) will examine whether the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) complied with eligibility rules when it accepted Giovanni Malagò’s presidential candidacy. CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio has announced that sports-law experts will review the matter after the General Prosecutor for Sport, Ugo Taucer, referred it to the organisation. The review could lead to the federation being placed under special administration, but no such decision has been taken, nor has the election been declared invalid.
Malagò was elected on 22 June with 68.58% of the vote, defeating Giancarlo Abete. Having led CONI for twelve years, he now faces a review by that same organisation of the procedure that allowed him to become president of Italian football. The dispute centres on his lack of valid federation registration when he submitted his candidacy and the legal implications of that circumstance.
Two interpretations of the registration requirement
Taucer has closed the individual case against Malagò but forwarded the documents to CONI Secretary General Carlo Mornati for an examination of whether FIGC breached the fundamental principles governing federation statutes. The General Prosecutor considers that being in good standing with registration presupposes holding valid registration when submitting a candidacy. Closing the individual case therefore leaves the review of the federation’s conduct open.
FIGC Federal Prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè takes a different view of Article 29 of the statutes. He considers that the requirement to be in good standing with registration does not necessarily impose prior registration and highlights FIGC’s particular electoral system, which requires candidates to secure the backing of one of its constituent bodies. He has also cited sports-law precedents supporting that interpretation. The disagreement concerns precisely whether the absence of registration prevented Malagò from standing for election.
What would need to happen before intervention
The legal review announced by Buonfiglio should provide grounds for assessing FIGC’s conduct. Special administration would not be an automatic consequence of Taucer’s report: CONI’s Executive Board would have to examine the findings and, if it identified a sufficiently serious violation, propose intervention to the National Council, which would be responsible for adopting the measure.
Buonfiglio has stressed the obligation to follow due procedure. “I must ensure that CONI works in accordance with the rules, with great caution and common sense”, he said after the referral became public, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. His remarks place the next decision within the examination of the documents and their legal implications.
Federation autonomy at the centre of the dispute
Former FIGC President Gabriele Gravina has rejected the prospect of intervention and defended the federation’s autonomy. Malagò, meanwhile, has expressed his frustration with the situation. “It is a complicated moment, unfairly and surprisingly complicated”, he said in an interview with Sky Sport reproduced by Fantacalcio. Neither position resolves the legal disagreement that CONI must examine.
From an institutional perspective, the case tests the relationship between FIGC’s electoral autonomy and CONI’s supervisory powers. An election completed with a substantial majority remains subject to a dispute over a requirement for candidacy. The review must determine whether the federation’s interpretation complied with the common rules of Italian sport and, if it did not, what consequences should follow.
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