{"id":698151,"date":"2026-05-27T15:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698151\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T15:58:09","slug":"moral-bankrupts-pirlo-and-materazzi-provoke-fury-by-attending-football-day-in-russia-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698151\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Moral bankrupts\u2019: Pirlo and Materazzi provoke fury by attending \u2018Football Day\u2019 in Russia | Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The presence of the Italian World Cup winners Andrea Pirlo and Marco Materazzi in Russia<\/a> for a sports event has sparked outrage. The former players signed autographs and posed for selfies with Kremlin supporters on the day Moscow launched one of its most brutal missile attacks on Kyiv.<\/p>\n

The former Juventus and Milan midfielder Pirlo, one of the defining figures of Italian football and now manager of United FC in Dubai, was photographed on Sunday alongside the Russian striker Artem Dzyuba<\/a>, during \u201cFootball Day\u201d celebrations at Moscow\u2019s Luzhniki Stadium. Shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion, Dzyuba, Russia\u2019s former captain, said he was \u201cproud to be Russian\u201d.<\/p>\n

The event featured exhibition matches, autograph sessions and appearances by former football stars and was organised by Fonbet, Russia\u2019s largest betting company.<\/p>\n

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Prominent pro-Kremlin artists performed throughout the day, including Yaroslav Dronov \u2013 better known by his stage name Shaman \u2013 whose songs have become unofficial anthems of the war.<\/p>\n

Pirlo\u2019s presence reignited criticism that first emerged last October, when he signed a deal with Fonbet as a global ambassador. Fonbet announced the partnership on Instagram, writing: \u201cWe welcome to our team a World Cup champion and two-time Champions League winner. As a global ambassador, the Italian will represent Fonbet in Russia and international markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s news.telegraf described Pirlo as the \u201clegendary partner of Ukrainian player Andriy Shevchenko who [Pirlo] sold himself to Russia\u201d, and social media reactions were similarly unforgiving. \u201cAndrea Pirlo sold himself to dirty Russian money,\u201d one user wrote.<\/p>\n

Fonbet, which has murky ownership structures and reported ties to the Russian authorities, operated as Milan\u2019s regional partner in Russia before the club suspended the agreement in 2023 after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, describing the move as a gesture of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.<\/p>\n

Pirlo and Materazzi<\/a> were in Moscow as Russia launched one of its largest combined drone and missile assaults on Kyiv<\/a>, targeting civilian infrastructure. That day, Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for a third time in Ukraine<\/a> as part of a massive attack on the capital and its surrounding region that killed at least four people and injured about 100.<\/p>\n

Marco Materazzi (right) challenges Milan\u2019s Andriy Shevchenko, a Ukraine international, while playing for Inter in 2003. Photograph: Reuters<\/p>\n

Among the fiercest responses was that of the Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych<\/a>, who was barred from racing<\/a> in the Winter Games this year by Olympic authorities after attempting to compete with a helmet dedicated to Ukraine\u2019s war dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was one of the largest Russian attacks, during which 600 drones and 90 missiles were launched at Ukraine,\u2019\u2019 Heraskevych wrote on X. \u201cAlso today, Italian football legend Andrea Pirlo was spotted in Moscow next to Russian footballer Dzyuba, who openly supports the Kremlin\u2019s policy and the killing of Ukrainians. It\u2019s sad to see childhood legends turn into moral bankrupts for whom nothing is more valuable than Russian rubles. Shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European parliament vice-president Pina Picierno, a member of Italy\u2019s Democratic Party, said: \u201cMoney can buy many things. It can even, incredibly, lead a sports champion to sign footballs in Moscow at the very same moment that regime is indiscriminately killing civilians and threatening European countries. What money cannot buy, however, is credibility, integrity and the ability to stand in the affairs of the world with honour and a straight spine. It is a great shame that Pirlo evidently has not understood these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirlo defended the visit by saying: \u201cWe came here exclusively for sport and for the children. Football has the unique power to bring people together, to overcome borders and to offer a moment of joy, especially to young kids who dream of becoming footballers. Our presence in Moscow is linked solely to our passion for the game and to the affection of the fans who have always supported us throughout our careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Materazzi said: \u201cWe are here for a celebration of football, to meet the fans and to show that the ball speaks a universal language. Seeing the enthusiasm of children on the pitch is the only thing that matters to us today. We are not here to do politics but to honour football and the people who love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversy echoes the backlash faced last year by another Italian football icon, Francesco Totti, after he travelled to Moscow<\/a> as a guest of honour at the International RB Award, a major event dedicated to sport and betting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a politician or a diplomat, I am a man of sport who promotes its values around the world,\u201d Totti said at the time<\/a>, rejecting accusations that the visit carried political significance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The presence of the Italian World Cup winners Andrea Pirlo and Marco Materazzi in Russia for a sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-698151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}