Guardiola refuses to coach the Italian national team, and Pirlo and the Emirati United coach are the most prominent candidates

A media report stated that Pep Guardiola rejected the opportunity to coach the Italian national football team.

Giovanni Malago, president of the Italian Football Federation, said earlier this week that negotiations had been held with Guardiola, who left Manchester City this summer after spending 10 years with him, and that there were exceptions that could be made regarding salary.
Paolo Maldini, technical director of the Italian Football Federation, said yesterday, Thursday, that the federation initially contacted its former player Carlo Ancelotti, who is currently coaching the Brazilian national team.
The BBC reported on Friday that Ancelotti preferred to continue in his position, and Guardiola informed the Italian Federation that he intends to proceed with his plan to take a break from football, allowing him to relax, spend more time with his family, and travel.

Information indicates that the Italian Federation, in addition to offering a huge salary, practically gave Guardiola the freedom to shape the nature of the position in the way he saw fit, in an attempt to convince one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game to lead a team that failed to qualify for three consecutive editions of the World Cup.

But Guardiola, after giving himself some time to study the situation, decided to reject the offer.

This means that Andrea Pirlo, the former Italian national team playmaker and current coach of the UAE club United FC, has become the most prominent candidate to take over the task of leading the Italian national team during the European Nations League competitions this fall, where it will face the teams of France, Belgium and Turkey, and after that it will try to qualify for the 2028 European Nations Cup finals.