Roberto Mancini apologizes after being rehired to coach Italy 3 years after he left for Saudi Arabia

ROME (AP) — Roberto Mancini issued an apology in his first public comments Wednesday after being rehired to coach an Italy squad in crisis three years after he abandoned the same job for a lucrative contract with Saudi Arabia.

“I’m very sorry,” Mancini said. “It was like losing the woman of your life. And it means you did something that shouldn’t have been done. So I’m sorry, very sorry also for everything that happened over these last three years. … I’m going to try to bring the national team back where it belongs.”

Italy failed for a third straight time to qualify for the World Cup, prompting the resignations of federation president Gabriele Gravina and coach Gennaro Gattuso in April, shortly after a playoff defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The 61-year-old Mancini led the Azzurri to the European Championship title in 2021 but shockingly resigned as Italy coach in August 2023, taking over Saudi Arabia’s national team two weeks later.

“It was completely my fault,” Mancini said, referring to a lack of communication with Gravina.

Mancini’s first match back in charge will be against Belgium in the Nations League on Sept. 25 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. He was asked about what type of reception fans might give him.

“I realize some people will be against me,” Mancini said. “I’m hoping the squad plays well enough that maybe people will forgive me.”

Mancini was a fourth-choice option after Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola turned the job down and Andrea Pirlo was dropped as a candidate amid political concerns over a sponsorship deal with a Russian betting firm.

Italy will also face France and Turkey in its Nations League group.

Mancini can rely on players like Pio Esposito, Moise Kean and Nicolò Zaniolo in attack; Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Barella in midfield; Riccardo Calafiori and Marco Palestra at fullback; and Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal.

Center back has been an issue due to problems with Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi.

“I don’t think we’re in such a bad state: between center forwards and wingers were have a lot of options,” Mancini said. “And I’m talking about young players who can still improve. I gave Kean his debut, so I know him very well.”

Mancini also called Zaniolo up to Italy for the first time — before he had made his debut in Serie A.

Former Leicester and Roma coach Claudio Ranieri was hired as the federation's technical director.

Ranieri said making soccer schools less expensive and more appealing for young Italians, who are gravitating toward other sports — like tennis, inspired by top-ranked Jannik Sinner — would be a priority.

“We need to bring kids back to soccer,” Ranieri said. “Our national youth teams are performing well. We need to work on enabling players on the under-21 team to make the jump to the first team; and making sure that the Italy coach has players to choose from."

Ranieri also suggested a move away from Italy's historic devotion to tactics.

“We’re great tactically, others are good technically. Abroad, there’s not so much attention on the tactical aspects like there is here," Ranieri said. "We need to go back to developing individual skills.”

Between 2018 and 2021, Mancini coached Italy to a world-record 37-match unbeaten run.

However, a 1-0 semifinal playoff loss to then-67th-ranked North Macedonia at home in 2022 meant that the Azzurri again missed out on the World Cup.

Mancini nevertheless kept his position before surprisingly quitting in August 2023. He left Saudi Arabia in 2024 and was most recently coach at Al-Sadd in Qatar, before departing last month.

Mancini also previously steered Inter Milan and Manchester City to league titles.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Italy's new national soccer team coach Roberto Mancini pose during a news conference, Wednesday July 29, 2026, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

FILE - Saudi Arabia's head coach Roberto Mancini stands for the national anthems ahead of the Asian Cup Group F soccer match between Saudi Arabia and Thailand at Education City Stadium, in Al Rayyan, Qatar, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, file)

Italy's new national soccer team coach Roberto Mancini, right, and new technical director Claudio Ranieri pose during a news conference, Wednesday July 29, 2026, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Italy's new national soccer team coach Roberto Mancini, right, and new technical director Claudio Ranieri pose during a news conference, Wednesday July 29, 2026, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Giovanni Malago, right, present Italy's new national soccer team coach Roberto Mancini, center, and new technical director Claudio Ranieri during a news conference, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

Italy's new national soccer team coach Roberto Mancini, right, and new technical director Claudio Ranieri pose during a news conference, Wednesday July 29, 2026, in Rome. (Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse via AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Sen. Lindsey Graham returned for the last time Wednesday to South Carolina, where powerful friends remembered him as someone who never stopped working for the state he loved.

After Graham was eulogized Tuesday in the nation's capital as an indefatigable dealmaker by the president, vice president and others, mourners in Columbia recalled him as the son of pool hall owners who “was born with a plastic fork in his mouth,” as former Rep. Trey Gowdy put it.

The Republican seemed to know every mayor and small-town police chief and the location of every Chick-fil-A in South Carolina, and made sure GOP candidates had money to run in legislative and local elections across the state.

“Lindsey Graham understood the hopes and dreams and needs of his state and delivered every time,” said Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who ended his remarks by telling Graham he loved him.

Graham died suddenly on July 11 at his home in Washington, likely of an aortic tear, according to preliminary findings. He had just returned from a whirlwind trip to a NATO summit in Turkey, where he celebrated his 71st birthday, and a visit to Ukraine as he negotiated punishing sanctions against Russia. Senators voted late Tuesday to advance the package as a final gesture for their colleague.

Wednesday's funeral was at First Baptist, the giant downtown church where his predecessor Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond was eulogized 23 years ago.

One of Graham's many friends in Congress, Gowdy said the senator rose to power through humor, genuine caring for all people and a relentless work ethic. He joked the governor should change the name of the state capital of Columbia to honor Graham, even though his friend wouldn't want it.

“It wasn't the trapping of office he cared about. It was the work,” Gowdy said.

Gowdy spoke for nearly 30 minutes. He remembered a man who knew who he was, cast unpopular votes because they were the right thing to do, loved kids even though he was never married or a father — one joking bit of advice Graham gave youngsters was to “never do for yourself what someone else will do for you” — and was the least pretentious person in politics.

“Lindsey I loved you. You made me laugh. You made me think. You made me want to jump out of airplanes. You got me fined by the FCC when you came on my show. And you have made me cry a lot over the last two weeks, but I want you to know, brother, that your name will echo through the halls of history,” he said.

People who thought Graham was a warmonger were wrong, Gowdy said. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “Lindsey liked war.”

“Blessed be the peacemakers. He was on a trip that turned out to be his last trip trying to broker peace in a war where hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives,” Gowdy said.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the only remaining member of the South Carolina delegation in power when Graham arrived in Washington in 1995, read Psalm 23.

On Tuesday, Graham’s flag-draped casket was at the U.S. Capitol, where the Republican spent more than 30 years talking and laughing and badgering his colleagues into action. Trump then joined foreign leaders at a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral, a testament to Graham’s stature on the global stage, calling him “a giant of the United States Senate, a true American original who left us much too soon.”

Wednesday's ceremonies began at the Statehouse, where Graham started his political career in 1993. A horse-drawn caisson carrying his casket paused in front of a dozen law enforcement officers for a flyover by four military jets, and then proceeded to the church, where his family followed military pallbearers inside. A 130-member choir sang hymns.

Hundreds of movers in South Carolina politics gathered, including both nominees for governor — Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson and Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson — along with longtime Republican politicians like former House Speaker and Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins and former U.S. Rep. Henry Brown.

Graham's burial Wednesday near his home in Pickens County was planned as a private ceremony.

Several speakers praised the senator's younger sister Darline Graham, who dabbed her eyes as she sat with her family in a front pew.

“What a powerful, graceful person to show up here under such immense pressure,” Sen. Tim Scott said in his eulogy.

Graham's death, after winning the Republican nomination for a fifth term, has created opportunities for political change. McMaster named Darline Graham to hold his seat until January. She then surprised many by deciding to run for the full six-year term herself.

State law has Republicans holding a special primary in two weeks to decide the new nominee. Eight others are competing, including former Gov. Mark Sanford and U.S. Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry. Three candidates who paid the filing fee were kicked off the ballot because they didn't meet new party requirements for voting in the Republican primary.

From left, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; wife of Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Mindy Noce; Sen. Scott; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attend the funeral service for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is carried into First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., for a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is carried out of First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., following a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., looks on as her brother's casket is carried out of First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., following a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster speaks during the funeral service for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's casket on a horse-drawn caisson arrives at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., sits at the front of First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., during a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is escorted into First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., for a funeral service Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

The flag-draped casket of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is carried on a horse-drawn caisson to his funeral at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins).

The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is escorted to First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., for a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The casket of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is carried into First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., for a funeral service, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., left, who is running to fill the seat of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., greets an attendee before the late Sen. Graham's funeral at First Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A guest looks at the program during the service for Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

An Armed Forces Body Bearer Team places the flag-draped casket of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., cries during the funeral of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks at the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at the Washington National Cathedral, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other guests, attend the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Tuesday July 28, 2026, at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)