Diana Bianchidi resigned from the presidency of the Italian national football team's delegation after a controversy with the Minister of Sports

Diana Bianchidi, who succeeded Italian football legend Gianluigi Buffon as head of the Italian national team, submitted her resignation on Wednesday, less than two months after her appointment, in the midst of the international break and two days before the expected confrontation against France.

Bianchidi's decision came after statements made by the Italian Minister of Sports and Youth, Andrea Abudi, and the widespread controversy that followed in the media during the past hours.

Bianchidi said in a statement in which she announced her resignation: “In light of the statements of the Minister of Sports and Youth, Andrea Abudi, and the controversy they sparked in the press on Wednesday afternoon, I submit my resignation. “I have always acted with seriousness and integrity, with respect for the rules and people, and for the good of the sport.”

She added: “My values ​​have been unfairly questioned, and I step aside to protect the national team from a useless controversy,” just two days before the Italian national team faced its French counterpart in the European Nations League.

Bianchidi, a two-time Olympic fencing champion, vice president of the Italian Olympic Committee and member of the organizing committee for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, assumed the position of head of the Italian national team delegation on August 9.

Her appointment, in a position similar to the role of general manager of the national team, was made by a decision of Giovanni Malago, the new president of the Italian Football Federation, to succeed Buffon.

The crisis that led to her resignation was due to her participation, on Tuesday, in a hearing before the Italian Olympic Committee court related to the decision to place the Italian Weightlifting Federation under guardianship, a measure that Bianchidi was opposed to.

Her position sparked criticism from Sports Minister Andrea Abudi, who commented on the issue on Wednesday in statements to Sky, saying that through her position she was unable to “demonstrate the trust that was given to her.”

Although the case is not directly related to the Italian national football team, it came at a time when the federation and the national team are experiencing a tense atmosphere, in light of a number of administrative and sporting crises.

Malago, who succeeded Gabriele Gravina as president of the Italian Federation last August, is in turn facing action before the Italian Olympic Committee, which must determine whether his election as president of the federation will remain valid or be cancelled.

The case is due to Malago not having a license with the Italian Football Federation when the extraordinary electoral general assembly was held, even though the federation’s regulations require the existence of this license.

If a decision is taken to cancel Malago's election, the Italian Football Federation may in turn become under the guardianship of the Italian Olympic Committee.

These developments come a few months after a major crisis in Italian football, following the team's failure to qualify for the World Cup finals for the third time in a row at the end of last March, which led to the resignation of federation president Gabriele Gravina, head of the national team delegation Gianluigi Buffon, and coach Gennaro Gattuso from their positions.

Roberto Mancini then returned to lead the Italian national team, which began its campaign during the current international break with a loss to Belgium with two unanswered goals, on Friday, at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, before regaining its balance by achieving a major victory over Turkey, with a score of 4-1, last Monday.

On Wednesday, the Italian Football Federation submitted to the European Football Association (UEFA) the files of 14 candidate stadiums to host the 2032 European Nations Cup matches, which are jointly organized by Italy and Turkey.

It is scheduled that the file of each stadium will be subject to study and evaluation by the European Union, provided that at the end of the process the Italian Federation will choose only five stadiums to host the tournament matches on Italian soil.

The 14 nominated stadiums are distributed in 13 Italian cities: Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Florence, Genoa, Lecce, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Rome, Salerno, Turin and Verona.

The capital, Rome, is the only city that includes two stadiums on the list submitted to UEFA, although one of them is still a project and has not been built yet, which is the proposed new Petrillata Stadium for the Roma Club.

The list of nominated stadiums also includes the San Siro Stadium in Milan after its reconstruction, and it is scheduled to be shared by the city's two poles, Milan and Inter.

The Italian Football Federation explained, in a statement, that the European Union will begin the process of verifying the extent to which the nominated stadiums meet the conditions required to host the tournament matches, which is an evaluation process based on 11 different axes, in addition to 120 operational requirements.

The Italian Federation said in its statement: “The European Football Association will conduct verification processes to ensure that the necessary requirements are met, which are based on 11 axes, in addition to 120 operational requirements.”

He added that the Italian Federation will announce, after the end of the evaluation and verification process, the names of the five stadiums that will be chosen to host the 2032 European Nations Cup matches.

Prominent officials in the English Premier League clubs called for the necessity of imposing sanctions on Manchester City, against the backdrop of its violations of financial regulations, before the curtain falls on the current season’s competitions.

These demands come after the issuance of the ruling that found Manchester City guilty in a case related to artificially inflating its revenues by a value exceeding 900 million pounds sterling, amid fears among rival club officials that delaying the implementation of the sanctions would lead to creating a state of chaos and uncertainty regarding the competition for the league title.

Pressure has mounted from prominent figures in football to resolve the sanctions before the end of the current season, after the English Premier League confirmed, on Tuesday, that Manchester City had been found guilty of all charges related to financial violations dating back to the period extending between the 2009-2010 and 2017-2018 seasons.

Competing clubs fear that Manchester City will be able to complete the season without facing the consequences of the ruling, especially if the team succeeds in winning the English Premier League title again, which has led to increased pressure on the independent committee to speed up its procedures and make its decision before the end of the season.

The independent commission concluded that Manchester City artificially inflated its revenues by more than 900 million pounds, through sponsorship deals described as “fake.”

A club official, who refused to reveal his identity, said in statements to the BBC: “It is in everyone’s interest to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”

When asked whether it was realistic to reach a final result within a short period, he replied: “Intuitively yes, but it must be done in the right way.” We are all aware of the risks of not doing so, but those risks were present throughout the period of the procedures, as the club won the league several times during that period.”

On the other hand, Manchester City continued to deny committing any violations, confirming its intention to file an official appeal against the referee by the end of this week.

The English Premier League regulations stipulate that the appeal must be decided within a period not exceeding 12 weeks from the date of its submission, but reports indicated that Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City, expects the process to take a long time.

However, it remains possible to accelerate the appeal procedures to allow the case to be resolved by the end of the current season, at a time when the English Premier League has officially expressed its desire to “resolve the case as soon as possible,” to avoid entering into a long and complicated legal path.