Shadows: The Vote and the War for the New President after Malagò's Empire

Will there be a Judas or more than one at this table? Luca Pancalli and Luciano Buonfiglio must have asked themselves this question last night, when they gathered their respective (and presumed) supporters in two separate electoral dinners, at the Casale di Tor di Quinto and at the Circolo dell'Aeronautica, to count the troops. It was the appetizer, or perhaps the dinner of mockery, of the battle for the presidency of the Coni, scheduled for this morning at Acquacetosa. Eighty-one great electors are called to choose the successor of Giovanni Malagò, the glorious Italian Mister Sport, to whom the government has not granted an extension of his mandate, like Luca Zaia in Veneto. It is the end of an era, of a way of being and conceiving sport and relationships beyond sport. In this fiction full of politics, clubs on the banks of the Tiber, power and northern Rome, much will depend on Franco Carraro, the needle on the scale at 85, for the malicious Poltronissimo. It is a transversal and unpredictable game. On one side Pancalli, president of the Paralympic Committee and former councilor of the Marino government in Rome; on the other Buonfiglio, who leads the Canoe and Kayak Federation. The first is supported by a number of federations, but also by politics in the name of "renewal": the Minister of Sport Andrea Abodi is rooting for him, in noisy silence, Paolo Barelli, leader of Forza Italia and leader of the Federnuoto, and also Angelo Binaghi, leader of the tennis movement, have sided without problems. The second, Buonfiglio, has a declared sponsor: Malagò, of whom he was also vice president, and therefore, he says, of the Italian sports system that wants to remain independent. In the middle Carraro, who seems to have few but precious votes, like those of Gabriele Gravina of the FIGC and Gianni Petrucci of basketball, to name two. Anything can happen. Those who know a lot say that Buonfiglio could win when the quorum drops by virtue of Carraro's votes. If it goes like this, Abodi, who is an expression of Fratelli d'Italia, would not come out of it very well. This is why in Via della Scrofa there is nervousness among Giorgia Meloni's colonels: betting on a candidate, very capable but labeled as left-wing, and then losing is not the best. In case of doubt, the party told the deputy Elisabetta Lancellotta, who is part of the National Council of Coni in the territorial quota and therefore is a big voter, not to participate in Pancalli's electoral dinner last night. The first vote will need an absolute majority (41), then it will go down with that of the voters at all costs. Coni represents a movement with 14 million members, a force even if by now the safe has been transferred to Sport and Health, the first real battle lost in the days of the yellow-greens by Malagò. The government does not seem to have coordinated, as it should with the excuse of avoiding interference. Matteo Salvini's League, for example, is very close to Stefano Mei of Athletics, who is with Buonfiglio. Crazy predictions, press releases and poisons, possible appeals around the corner. The future of CONI is in a crystal ball, more than a basketball or soccer ball. Along with the candidates for president - there are eight in all - the members of the council will be chosen with another vote, expressions of all the sports worlds, in addition to the three by right as members of the IOC (Giovanni Malagò, Federica Pellegrini and Ivo Ferriani). It is not clear what is going on, like the Palace, H in fact, which is the headquarters of CONI at the Foro Italico, formerly Foro Mussolini. To get into the details, it is about the future secretary general of the organization, the real administrative engine of this machine. Carraro is ready to divert his votes to Buonfiglio as long as Carlo Mornati stays. The president of canoeing would prefer Alberto Miglietta. It is about. And even Pancalli, to shuffle the cards, could focus on Malagò's outgoing secretary general, but there are those who deny it. War of nerves and strategy, with politics divided and then united across the board. Malagò, who has governed while seeing eight governments and seven prime ministers pass before him, will do everything to avoid telling Abodi, the representative of a government that has given him no discounts, won. The sports minister is not in an easy position: he has exposed himself, in an elegant manner for Pancalli, and now he can no longer put himself in reverse. There is a certain unease within Fratelli d'Italia over this risky move. To make the picture even more complicated, there is a fair amount of war between federations and this morning before the vote begins, sparks are expected. There is no point in placing too much emphasis on last night's electoral dinners: they should be taken with a pinch of salt, as the history of the Coni tells us. Raffaele Pagnozzi in 2013 got up from the table with sixteen votes in favor and in the morning Malagò won by three. It was the beginning of an empire but also of a jet set on which the sun could set. Or maybe not. Sorry for Baron Pierre De Coubertin: the important thing today will not be to participate.

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