Italy sack Ventura, target Ancelotti

MILAN: Gian Piero Ventura’s reign as Italy coach ended on Wednesday after a World Cup qualifying fiasco during which the four-time champions failed to reach next year’s finals in Russia.
The 69-year-old’s fate was sealed after a crisis meeting of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in Rome, with former Chelsea and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti among the favourites to take over and rebuild the Azzurri.
Ventura had refused to resign despite a 1-0 aggregate play-off defeat to Sweden on Monday that saw Italy miss the World Cup for the first time since 1958.“As of today Gian Piero Ventura is no longer the coach of the national team,” the FIGC said in a statement.
According to reports, Ventura will be paid his salary until the end of his contract in June 2018, which amounts to approximately 800,000 euros ($943,000).But FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio will stay on despite mounting pressure on him to also resign after a defeat which has left a nation traumatised.
“The federation president (Tavecchio) informed participants at the (crisis) meeting... of the impossibility for him to resign,” a FIGC statement read, awaiting “a series of proposals” on how to fix Italian football.
Tavecchio later told journalists that a new coach would be named at a special meeting of the FIGC federal council which would take place next Monday.“We are considering big names for the role of coach,” the 74-year-old promised.
Ancelotti is seen as the frontrunner, as the 58-year-old is free since being sacked by Bayern Munich at the end of September.But opposition to Tavecchio remains despite promises to rebuild Italian football from grassroots level upwards with Damiano Tommasi, the head of the Italian Players’ Union, storming out of the FIGC meeting after Tavecchio refused to quit.
“There doesn’t appear to be the mood for change,” the former Roma midfielder told journalists. “Tavecchio has decided not to resign and continue with his office.“The others haven’t taken a position and said they’d decide in the future.“We need credible elections, with new people.“If not, we’ll keep stirring the same soup which has proved indigestible to so many.”