During the interview granted to Corriere della Serain which the president Gabriele Gravina announced his desire to run again for the presidency of the FIGC, the current number one in Italian football took stock of his work, starting with the results he is most proud of. “Having contributed to giving stability to the system devastated by the pandemic through the distribution of 162 million euros to the components. This was possible thanks to good federal management. And then, having defended the autonomy of the FIGC from interference: we must govern the change us”,
On a technical level, he remembered the 2021 European Championship with emotion: “The greatest joy of the last 18 years. But not only that, I am proud of the work done on the youth national teams, which allowed us to win the UEFA Burlaz award. Spain had won it eight times, we never. We are on the way right.”
But what wouldn’t you do again? Gravina admitted with sincerity: “We could have done better in Germany, too. There was a bit of confusion in the preparation and we weren’t able to give the right support to Spalletti. Then there’s a huge blemish: the World Cup. But they don’t have penalties I’ll shoot…”.
The shock of elimination and Spalletti’s role
The elimination from the European Championship has left its mark, but according to Gravina it has also contributed to a positive change. “After the defeat we took a week to reflect. Then we also met with Buffon again and did self-criticism, each for our own skills.”
Speaking of Luciano Spalletti, Gravina underlined the seriousness of the coach: “Already on the evening of his elimination he was ready to resign his mandate. He is a very serious person, he works seven days a week and we appreciate him more and more. His stay on the Italian bench was never in question.”