Andrea Pirlo has announced he is no longer in contention to become the next Italy head coach following criticism of his commercial links with a Russian betting company.
The former Azzurri midfielder, 47, had emerged as the leading candidate to succeed Gennaro Gattuso after Pep Guardiola declined the job.
However, Pirlo’s role as a global ambassador for Russian bookmaker Fonbet prompted objections to his potential appointment from some Italian Football Federation officials and politicians due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Pirlo, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, defended his involvement with the company in an Instagram post.
He posted: “After learning last night that I am no longer the candidate to lead the Italian national team, I believe it is my duty to clarify a few points.
“In the last few days I have witnessed with great bitterness the debate that has developed around my name and the possibility of taking over the role of head coach of the Italian national team.
“During my career, first as a football player and now as a coach, I have always carried out my activity in full respect to the laws of the countries I worked in and the contracts I signed.”
He signed an ambassadorial agreement with Fonbet in October and said the collaboration was exclusively commercial and sporting in nature.
“To attribute a political meaning to such a collaboration means to attribute convictions that I have never expressed and that do not belong to me,” added Pirlo, who is currently managing UAE Pro League club United FC in Dubai.
Italy’s search continues
The FIGC had met with Guardiola to try and convince him to succeed Gattuso after they failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup and were willing to make an exceptional adjustment to their budget to hire him.
FIGC officials Paolo Maldini and his advisor Leonardo met with Guardiola over three days, explaining their project for the national team moving forward.
In their discussions with the former Manchester City manager in Barcelona, Maldini and Leonardo presented an idea that went beyond simply offering him a coaching role.
In the FIGC’s vision, Guardiola would have been the central figure in an ‘Azzurro project’ aiming to rebuild Italian football on solid foundations. Italy did not even qualify for the expanded World Cup this summer.
Pep Guardiola won 20 trophies across his Manchester City tenure
It would have been a complete overhaul that would have involved not only the senior national team but all other national teams. The Catalan is understood to have listened attentively to Maldini and Leonardo’s offer.
But Guardiola rejected the proposal for personal reasons beyond football, according to Sky in Italy.
Pirlo was set to terminate his contract with United FC ahead of finalising his agreement to become Italy’s head coach.
Carlo Ancelotti was also contacted before Guardiola, according to FIGC technical director Maldini, but has a contract with the Brazil national team.
The FIGC brought in Maldini and Leonardo as part of a huge shake-up in Italian football following their failure to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
