Definitely ended the Spalletti era, the Italian national soccer team currently finds itself without a technical commissioner. Claudio Ranieri&#8217s rejection has certainly displaced the Federcalcio, which, as confirmed by President Gabriele Gravina on the sidelines of the signing of the Figc-Guardia di Finanza memorandum of understanding, will use all possible time to find a new name.

“There is no news regarding the role of technical commissioner of the national team – said the number one of the Federcalcio -. We are studying every possibility, we have a few’ days and we want to use them all. It is not only a question of names, we also want to understand if those who will come can bring a new project”.

Gravina also returned to talk about the sporting divorce with Luciano Spalletti: “Football is a world also made up of feelings, with Luciano the relationship has always been splendid and in these days it has also strengthened– he said -. I am bitter about how it went, a bond linked to everyday life had to be broken”.

Luciano Spalletti left the national team after the 2-0 success against Moldova on Monday night. In his place, the first choice was Claudio Ranieri, who, however, declined, preferring to concentrate on his managerial work at Roma. The track linked to Stefano Pioli also seems to have been wiped out, the new favorite seems to be Gennaro Gattuso, fresh from his experience at Hajduk in Croatia.

The men&#8217s national volleyball team&#8217s adventure in the Volleyball Nations League 2025 began in the best possible way in Quebec City (Canada): the Azzurri led by Ferdinando De Giorgi overcame Bulgaria 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19), thus taking the victory in the first of the four matches scheduled in the first week of the international event.

The Azzurri’s top scorer is Mattia Bottolo, with a total of 13 points scored. He is followed by Giovanni Gargiulo with 12, Kamil Rychlicki and Simone Anzani with 10. On the other side, Aleksandar Nikolov&#8217s 17 points were useless, as well as Bulgarian captain Iliya Petkov&#8217s 10. Italy will play the next three games against Germany, France and Argentina, also at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.

The match against the Germans is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Italian time on Thursday, June 12, while the one with the French will be played on the Italian night between Friday and Saturday, with first serve when 2 a.m. is struck in the Bel Paese. Against Argentina, in the last match of the Canadian trip before moving for Week 2 to the United States, in Chicago, it will instead be played at 5 p.m. Italian time on Sunday, June 15.

Part of the international volleyball calendar since 2018, the Volleyball Nations League has so far not brought great satisfaction to the men’s national team, which in six editions has never made it onto the podium, not even when it hosted the final phase in 2021 and 2022. The best finish is fourth place, achieved in 2022 and 2023. Last year Italy finished in fifth place.

A little more than three weeks before the start of the Tour de France, Remco Evenepoel launches an important signal in the race that is traditionally used to prepare for the Grande Boucle, the Tour of the Dauphiné. In the 17.4-kilometer time trial starting in Charmes-sur-Rhône and finishing in Saint-Péray, the Soudal Quick-Step rider won with a time of 20’50”, ahead of 21″ Jonas Vingegaard and 37″ Matteo Jorgenson (both from Team Visma-Lease a Bike), but above all giving 49″ gap to Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who was a bit in the shade compared to expectations.

With his success in Wednesday’s time trial, Evenepoel also took the yellow jersey of leader of the classification, ousting Ivan Romeo of Movistar, who instead slipped to third place at 9″ (Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, 4″ from Evenepoel, moved up to second). Vingegaard is fifth in the overall standings at 16″ from the Belgian, Pogacar is eighth at 38″ behind.

World time trial champion in 2023 and 2024, as well as Olympic champion in both the road and time trial, Remco Evenepoel has his sights set firmly on the Tour de France 2025, knowing he can improve on his third-place finish in last year&#8217s edition. For him, the first real goal could be a time trial, that of Caen (stage 5 of the 2025 Tour), which includes a 33-kilometer circuit suited to his characteristics.

In any case, Pogacar remains the number one favorite to win the Grande Boucle: the Slovenian, who literally cannibalized the season in 2024, leaving rivals few races among the most important ones, has already won UAE Tour, Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders, Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège this year. At the Tour de France he is aiming for his fourth overall success after those in the 2020, 2021 and 2024 editions: he also boasts two second places, in 2022 and 2023, behind Jonas Vingegaard in both cases.