While Cesare Maldini's national team "stumbled" once again under the penalty "curse" and was eliminated from the '98 world cup by France (but Maldini, in the meantime, won three European Under 21 titles for Italy), football faced a period of historical transformation. 

Television rights, reform of international club competitions, the Bosman law and a new regime for foreign players, are only some of the new scenarios which Italian football is facing, whilst waiting for a new Statute and new rules that guarantee a modern future for the entire system, in keeping with the times.

At the end of Luciano Nizzola's presidency no candidate managed to obtain the quorum necessary to be elected. Therefore, the management of the F.I.G.C. has been assumed by the President of the Italian Olympic Games Committee, Gianni Petrucci, in the role of Temporary Executive Board member.