Andrea Pirlo withdraws from Italy coaching race over Russian betting links

Former Italian football star Andrea Pirlo announced he is no longer in contention for the coaching position of the Italian national team. His potential appointment faced significant opposition due to his commercial ties with a Russian betting company.

Pirlo, a World Cup winner, had emerged as a leading candidate to replace Gennaro Gattuso, especially after Pep Guardiola reportedly declined the role. However, Pirlo's position as a global ambassador for the Russian betting firm Fonbet came under intense scrutiny. Officials from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Italian parliamentarians raised objections, leading to the withdrawal of his candidacy.

In a statement on Instagram, Pirlo defended his relationship with Fonbet, describing it as purely commercial and sporting. He expressed regret that a "sporting decision" had devolved into a public debate. "Assigning a political meaning to that collaboration is attributing to myself convictions that I have never expressed and that do not belong to me," he stated.

The controversy intensified after Pirlo appeared with former teammate Marco Materazzi at an Fonbet-organized event in Moscow, particularly amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian Ambassador to Italy Alexey Paramonov wrote a letter to Pirlo, lamenting that the former player was facing ostracism in his own country despite his contributions to sports, a fate he noted had befallen many Russian artists and athletes in recent years.

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En los últimos días, he observado con ​gran amargura el debate que se ha desarrollado en torno a mi nombre y a la posibilidad de asumir el cargo de seleccionador de la selección italiana.