Giovanni Malagò, President of the Italian Football Federation, discussed several topics in an interview with Sky Sport Italia after the FIFA World Cup, including the selection of the new national team coach, the FIFA World Cup performance, and the Balogun incident.

Regarding the new coach of the Italian national team, Malagò stated that the current candidates are not limited to Roberto Mancini and Andrea Pirlo. He said, "Yes, there might be other names too."

Malagò emphasized that the selection of the new coach requires a full consensus from all parties and will still take some time: "There is no conflict whatsoever. The final decision must be approved by everyone, and the direction of the candidates needs to be completely unified. We are deeply discussing a mutually agreed-upon candidate, but there are still some variables to evaluate and some information to further understand. Please be patient for a few more days, and everyone will know everything then."

Speaking about the recently concluded FIFA World Cup final, Malagò believes that Spain and Argentina were the two best-performing teams in the tournament, and Spain's eventual victory was a deserved result based on their overall performance.

"I think it was a match between the two best teams in this FIFA World Cup. The eventual winner was the team that performed better in regular time and extra time. Spain tried to attack proactively from the start, and they played better."

However, he also mentioned Argentina's opportunities in the final stages of the match: "When everyone thought Argentina was exhausted and unable to counterattack, even with one less player, they still created two clear scoring chances from corner kicks. If they had seized the opportunities, the game might have gone to a penalty shootout, but that's the beauty of football."

Regarding the new rules and changes during the FIFA World Cup, such as hydration breaks and the extended halftime due to the final's halftime show, Malagò stated that these measures were both innovative and controversial.

"These are innovative, bold, and different attempts, which naturally provoke discussion. But the starting point of hydration breaks is reasonable, especially when playing in high temperatures and humidity, protecting players is very important."

He also pointed out that modern football cannot ignore commercial factors: "We need to protect players, but also consider the revenue from advertising. We cannot blindly pursue tradition. The more than 20-minute halftime break in the final allowed the audience to see a form of entertainment not usually seen in European football; this is the American sports business model, similar to the Super Bowl."

Regarding FIFA World Cup ticket prices, Malagò stated that prices are currently mainly determined by algorithms: "Prices change according to demand and supply, just like stocks. It might seem crazy from the outside, but it actually completely depends on market supply and demand."

Regarding the Balogun incident and whether politics should interfere with sports, Malagò took a firm stance: "This has crossed the line. The Olympic Charter is very clear about the principle of sports autonomy. Sports and politics need each other, but if either side tries to dominate the other, it will go wrong."

In addition, Malagò also discussed the involvement of Paolo Maldini and Leonardo in Italian Football Federation projects. He stated: "It took me two weeks to get them on board. They are both very serious people. Although they were initially interested in the project, they wanted to understand every detail of the position and organizational structure. We had many phone and video conferences, and the financial aspect only took up very little time."

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