Favorite for Italy's top soccer job withdraws from the race

• Andrea Pirlo, a seasoned soccer player turned coach, won’t contend for the top job in Italy’s men’s soccer
• He is giving up on the job after he was tipped to almost certainly secure the role after a controversy involving a Russian gambling company
• Pirlo has spoken out against politicizing the issue and said that he had only had commercial and sports ties

Andrea Pirlo will no longer be considered for the role after controversy over his ties to Russian betting company, Fonbet. Pirlo announced the news via a social media post and said it was his own decision to give up on running for the position.

Favored to take Soccer's top job in Italy withdraw from the race

Pirlo was the primary candidate tipped to secure the job up until revelations came that he had a rapport with the aforementioned gambling company. He became an ambassador for the Russian sports betting brand in October 2025, and this has now marred his prospects as the national head coach.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has come under heavy criticism for its decision to promote the man to the position, with critics noting his ties to Fonbet

FIGC members Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have both resigned following the controversy, while political criticism piled on. Politicians have openly rebuked the idea of having people who have promoted Russia after the country's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine hold public office of any sort

Pirlo has also released a statement, doubling down that he had never acted in any way beyond his duties as a sports coach. "After learning last night that I am no longer a candidate for the Italian national team, I feel it is my duty to clarify some aspects," Pirlo noted, adding:

"Over the last few days I watched, with great bitterness, the debate that swirled around my name. To assign a political meaning to that collaboration means ascribing to me beliefs which I have never expressed and that do not belong to me."

Let's not politicize the issue says Pirlo

He noted that any relationship he had was of a commercial and sporting nature and had no other meaning.

While Pirlo has maintained that the issue was not political, his dropping from the race prompted a swift response from the Russian ambassador to Rome, Aleksey Paramonov, who said that the coach was unfairly targeted and "ostracized."

Pirlo attended a Fonbet event at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which was also attended by Shaman, a Russian performer known for his pro-war and pro-Kremlin position.

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