Pirlo out of Italy football top job after backlash over Russian betting firm links

Andrea Pirlo has said he is no longer a candidate to coach the Italian national side following days of controversy over his ties to a Russian betting company.

His appointment as Italy's next head coach had not been confirmed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) yet was being treated as all but certain.

But over the weekend several Italian politicians criticised the FIGC's choice, noting that Pirlo, 47, had taken up a role as global ambassador for Russia's Fonbet last October.

The betting company has sponsored several sporting events involving veterans of Moscow's war in Ukraine and has organised events in Russia at which Pirlo appeared alongside pro-Kremlin figures.

"Anyone who is or has been promoting Russia after 2022 should not hold national office," said Carlo Calenda of the centrist Azione party.

"After learning last night that I am no longer a candidate for the Italian national team, I feel it is my duty to clarify some aspects," Pirlo, a former Internazionale, Juventus, AC Milan and Azzurri midfielder, wrote in an Instagram post on Monday morning.

"Over the last few days I watched, with great bitterness, the debate that swirled around my name," he said, adding that any "professional collaboration" he undertook in his capacity as coach for United FC in Dubai "was exclusively of a commercial and sporting nature".

"To assign a political meaning to that collaboration means ascribing to me beliefs which I have never expressed and that do not belong to me," Pirlo wrote.

Pina Picierno, a vice-president of the European Parliament, said at the weekend that Italian football "desperately needed a cultural, ethical and managerial revolution" but that the choice of Pirlo "goes in the exact opposite direction".

In contrast, Pirlo was offered support by the Russian ambassador in Rome, Aleksey Paramonov, who said that it was "saddening" to note that, "despite [Pirlo's] extraordinary contribution to world sport and to Italy's image around the world, in your own country, you are now being ostracized".

Scrutiny of Pirlo's ties to Fonbet and Russia intensified last spring, when he took part in a Fonbet event held in Moscow, which saw him and former teammate Marco Materazzi sign autographs at Luzhniki Stadium.

Nationalist pro-Kremlin pop star Shaman, who has repeatedly expressed his support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, also performed at the event.

At the time, Ukrainian skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych - who was disqualified from the Winter Olympics over his helmet depicting fellow athletes killed in the war - noted the Luzhniki event had taken place on the same day as a large Russian attack on Ukraine.

Heraskevych also criticised Pirlo for appearing next to Russian footballer Artem Dzyuba, who in the wake of the war in Ukraine posted on social media that he was "proud to be Russian".

"It's sad to see childhood legends turn into moral bankrupts," Heraskevych said.

The debate now risks engulfing new FIGC technical director Paolo Maldini, who has only been in post since 11 July and who Italian media say may resign over Pirlo's failed appointment.

Maldini and his adviser, former AC Milan teammate Leonardo, were tasked with finding a new head coach to navigate Italy through a Nations League group that includes France, Belgium and Turkey in the autumn and then try to qualify for Euro 2028.

The Italian football community has been undergoing much soul-searching after the team failed to qualify for a third World Cup earlier this year. Italy's loss on penalties to Bosnia-Herzegovina in April led to coach Gennaro Gattuso stepping down as well as a reshuffle of the FIGC echelons.

Earlier this month, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti were both unsuccessfully approached ahead of Pirlo.

According to Italian media, other names currently being considered are Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini - who led Italy to Euro 2020 glory before failing to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar and unceremoniously stepping down from the Italy bench to coach Saudi Arabia.

Devastated Italians reckon with 'third apocalypse' of World Cup failure