After leading AC Milan to their seventh European Cup, Carlo Ancelotti admitted Monday that he hopes his next job will be as coach of the Italian national team.
But he stressed that he wants to lift more trophies with Milan before accepting the Azzurri challenge.
"I don't intend to coach Milan all my life," the 47-year-old said in a radio interview.
"When this story ends, I'd like to coach the national team, but after 2010".
Last week's triumph over Liverpool in Athens gave Ancelotti his second Champions League win as a coach. He was in charge of Milan when they beat Juventus on penalties in the 2003 final too.
He also led Milan to the 2004 scudetto and won the European Cup twice with the club as a player, in 1989 and 1990.
The last time Ancelotti hinted he had Azzurri ambitions was in March.
Then his comments caused a stir because the media took them as a sign the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) was thinking of sacking the current boss, Roberto Donadoni, following the Azzurri's sluggish start to the Euro 2008 qualification campaign.
But Italy's 2-0 victory over Scotland in the spring, their third consecutive Euro 2008 win, has made Donadoni's position secure for the time being.
The Italian media is now focusing on who will take over at Juventus.
Italy's World Cup-winning coach and Juve legend Marcello Lippi is favourite to replace Didier Deschamps, who walked out Saturday after leading the team to the Serie B championship.
Lippi had previously said he would not return to work until the start of the 2008-09 season, but the Turin giants are reportedly pressing him hard to change his mind.
There are rumours he may do the job in tandem with former Italy and Juve midfielder Antonio Conte, the coach of Serie B's Arezzo.
Lippi covered Juventus in glory during his two spells in Turin, 1994-99 and 2001-04.
Under him Juventus won five domestic championships, a Champions League, a European Supercup and an Intercontinental title.
Pundits believe the club's management want to give the job to a member of the Juve 'family' of ex players and coaches.
Other possible candidates are former Chelsea coach and Juve striker Gianluca Vialli and Claudio Gentile, a Juventus great of the 1970s and 80s who was part of Italy's 1982 World Cup-winning team. Gentile managed the Italian Under-21 team from 2000 to 2006, winning the 2004 European Championships.
There has also been talk of the possible return Fabio Capello.
Capello won the 2005 and 2006 scudettos in his two years in charge, but the club was subsequently stripped of those titles for its role in the Calciopoli referee-rigging scandal.
Capello's return would be unpopular with many fans, who consider him a traitor for leaving Juve in their darkest hour last summer to join Real Madrid.
