Andrea Pirlo’s candidacy to become Italy’s next national team coach has come to an end, days after questions were raised over his commercial ties to Russian betting operator Fonbet. Pirlo’s appointment had never been formally confirmed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), but it had widely been treated as a formality until the controversy broke over the weekend.
The issue centers on Pirlo’s role as a global ambassador for Fonbet, a position he has held since last October and one that has seen him appear at company-organized events in Russia. A number of Italian and European politicians argued in recent days that any high-profile commercial association with a Russian company was inappropriate given the current political climate, and the resulting pressure ultimately derailed the appointment. The fallout also coincided with separate turmoil inside the FIGC, with two senior figures involved in the search for a new coach stepping back from their roles in the same period.
Pirlo addressed the situation directly, posting on Instagram that he had watched the debate around his name “with great bitterness” and stressing that his commercial work had been “exclusively of a commercial and sporting nature.” He pushed back on any suggestion that the partnership reflected personal beliefs, saying it was wrong to read political meaning into what he described as a straightforward sponsorship arrangement.
Fonbet has now added its own voice to the story, and in comments given exclusively to Casinos.com, the operator has been anything but muted. It said it had watched “the controversy surrounding Andrea’s career, which calls into question the integrity and career of a man who has dedicated his entire life to football and his love for his country.” The company was equally pointed about how the story has been covered internationally, telling Casinos.com it was “concerned by the amount of lies and misinformation being spread by Western media in an attempt to smear one of the greatest athletes in the history of football,” and adding that “once again, we have all witnessed how politics is being used in sport to achieve selfish ends.”
Fonbet also made clear the relationship with Pirlo isn’t going anywhere, regardless of how the coaching search in Italy is ultimately resolved. For his part, Pirlo has given no indication of walking away from football entirely, and speculation is already turning to who the FIGC will turn to next. Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini are among the names being floated, after earlier approaches to Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti didn’t lead anywhere. For now, though, the Italy job remains unresolved — and Pirlo’s own next chapter is very much still being written.
