{"id":826785,"date":"2026-07-27T10:55:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T10:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/826785\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T10:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T10:55:15","slug":"andrea-pirlo-out-of-running-for-italy-job-but-defends-deal-with-russian-betting-firm-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/826785\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrea Pirlo out of running for Italy job but defends deal with Russian betting firm | Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrea Pirlo has confirmed he is no longer in line to coach Italy, with his sponsorship deal with a Russian betting firm<\/a> believed to behind the development. Several Italian politicians have raised concerns about Pirlo\u2019s role as an ambassador for Fonbet, saying the national team coach should not have conflicting views on Italy\u2019s support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.<\/p>\n

Writing on Instagram on Monday, Pirlo said he \u201cheard last night that I\u2019m no longer the candidate for the Italy<\/a> national team job\u201d. The former Azzurri midfielder had previously insisted the Fonbet deal was linked to his job in the United Arab Emirates and is \u201cexclusively for commercial and sports purposes\u201d, adding: \u201cAttributing a political significance to that collaboration means attributing beliefs to me that I have never expressed and don\u2019t belong to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirlo added: \u201cOver the past few days, I have watched with great bitterness the debate that has developed around my name and the possibility of taking on the role of head coach of the Italian national team. Throughout my career, first as a player and now as a coach, I have always carried out my work in full compliance with the laws of the countries where I have worked and with the contracts I have \u200csigned.\u201c<\/p>\n

Despite Pirlo having the backing of the new Italian football federation technical director, \u200cPaolo Maldini, the controversy has created significant friction among politicians. \u201cAfter yet another defeat and another missed World Cup qualification, Italian football desperately needed a cultural, ethical and managerial revolution. The choice of Andrea Pirlo goes in the exact opposite direction,\u201d said Pina Picierno, a vice-president of the European parliament, on social media.<\/p>\n

Ignazio La Russa, the head of the Senate and a member of the prime minister Giorgia Meloni\u2019s party, expressed doubts over Pirlo\u2019s possible appointment. On Saturday, La Russa said: \u201cOf course \u200bI am an Italy fan \u200band Pirlo was a great champion, but as a coach, it is a leap in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlo Calenda, the leader of the Azione party, was even more direct in his criticism. \u201cAnyone who is or has been promoting Russia after 2022 should not hold national office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The FIGC turned to Pirlo \u2013 who had been prepared to leave his job as coach of Dubai United \u2013 after failing to land Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti<\/a> in their search for a successor to Gennaro Gattuso, who left his post by mutual consent in April<\/a> after Italy failed to qualify<\/a> for a third World Cup in succession.<\/p>\n

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The former Italy coaches Roberto Mancini<\/a> and Antonio Conte are now being discussed for the job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrea Pirlo has confirmed he is no longer in line to coach Italy, with his sponsorship deal with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-826785","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\/826785","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=826785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}