Pirlo left the top job of Italian football after being linked to a Russian betting company

Andrea Pirlo has said he is not a candidate to coach Italy’s national team amid days of controversy over his links to a Russian betting company.

His appointment as Italy’s next head coach has yet to be confirmed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

But over the weekend several Italian politicians criticized the FIGC’s choice, Pirlo, 47, served as the global ambassador for Russia’s Fonbet last October.

The betting company has sponsored several sporting events in Ukraine involving Moscow’s war veterans, and Pirlo has organized events in Russia alongside Kremlin supporters.

“Anyone promoting or promoting Russia after 2022 should not hold a national office,” said Carlo Calenda of the centrist Azion party.

“After learning last night that I am not a candidate for the Italian national team, I feel it is my duty to clarify some issues,” former Internazionale, Juventus, AC Milan and Azzurri midfielder Pirlo wrote in an Instagram post on Monday morning.

“I have watched with great bitterness the controversy that has been swirling around my name for the past few days,” he said, adding that any “professional cooperation” during his time as a coach at Dubai United FC was “purely in the nature of business and sport”.

“To give a political meaning to that cooperation means to express to me beliefs that I have never expressed and that are not mine,” wrote Pirlo.

European Parliament vice-president Pina Picierno said at the weekend that Italian football “desperately needs a cultural, ethical and managerial revolution” but Pirlo’s selection “goes in the opposite direction”.

On the other hand, Pirlo was supported by the Russian ambassador in Rome, Alexey Paramonov, who said, “Despite your (Pirlo’s) special contribution to world sport, you are now being ostracized in your country.”

Scrutiny of Pirlo’s links to Fonbet and Russia intensified last spring, when he attended a Fonbet event in Moscow, where he and former team-mate Marco Materazzi signed autographs at the Luzhniki Stadium.

The pro-Kremlin pop star Shaman, who has repeatedly expressed his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also performed at the event.

At the time, Ukrainian skeleton skater Vladylav Heraskevych – who was disqualified from the Winter Olympics for wearing a helmet depicting athletes killed during the war – described the Luzhniki incident. On the same day as a major Russian attack on Ukraine.

Hraskevich criticized Pirlo for appearing next to Russian footballer Artem Dzyuba, who posted on social media that he was “proud to be Russian” the day after the Ukraine war.

“It’s sad to see childhood stories turn into moral bankruptcy,” Heraskevic said.

The dispute could now engulf new FIGC technical director Paolo Maldini, who has been in post since July 11 and who Italian media say may resign following Pirlo’s failed appointment.

Maldini and his mentor, former AC Milan team-mate Leonardo, have been tasked with finding a new head coach to lead Italy through a Nations League group that includes France, Belgium and Turkey in the autumn and then qualify for Euro 2028.

Italian football community A lot of soul searching has been going on After the team failed to qualify for their third World Cup earlier this year. Italy’s penalty shootout loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina in April led to the resignation of coach Gennaro Gattuso and a reshuffle of the FIGC leadership.

Earlier this month, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti both failed to appear ahead of Pirlo.

According to Italian media, the other names currently being considered are Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini – who failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar before leading Italy to Euro 2020 glory and are coaching Saudi Arabia from Italy’s bench.