Andrea Pirlo says he feels “great bitterness” after confirming that he is “no longer a candidate” for the Italy head coach role.
The national team job has been vacant since Genaro Gattuso left the position in April following the team’s failure to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
Reports in Italy over the weekend suggested that Pirlo’s candidacy for the position was in jepoardy due to his links with Russian betting company Fonbet. The 2006 World Cup winner, who has coached UAE Pro League club Dubai United for the past year, has been a brand ambassador for Fonbet since October.
Pirlo released a statement via his social media on Monday concerning his “professional arrangement” that he regretted that a “decision of a sporting nature” had been “dragged into a public debate” with politican implications.
“Over the last few days, I have followed with great bitterness the debate that has arisen in regard to my name and the possibility of taking on the role of head coach of the Italian national team,” Pirlo wrote.
“Throughout my career — first as a footballer and now as a coach — I have always conducted my work in full compliance with the laws of the countries in which I have worked and the contracts I have signed.
“The professional arrangement at the centre of the recent controversy stems from my work in the United Arab Emirates and is exclusively commercial and sporting in nature. To attribute a political significance to this collaboration is to ascribe to me beliefs that I have never expressed and which do not reflect my views.
“I regret that a decision of a sporting nature has so quickly been dragged into a public debate which has ended up attributing to me meanings and intentions that are not my own.”
Pirlo made 116 appearances for Italy as a player, winning the World Cup in 2006 and scoring 13 goals. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, he spent the majority of his club career in his home country with AC Milan and Juventus — winning six Serie A titles, two with the former and four with the latter.
“I would like to thank (Paolo) Maldini (technical director of the Italian football federation) and Leonardo (his advisor) for the esteem and trust they have shown in me. I am well aware of their expertise, their integrity, and the love they have always shown for Italian football,” he added.
“My love for Italy does not depend on a particular role. It is part of my history, my identity, and will continue to be with me, always.”
The Athletic has contacted the Italian football federation (FICG) for comment.
Pirlo received support, however, from the Russian ambassador to Italy Aleksey Paramonov who released a video on Telegram saying: “It is a pity that, despite your contribution to world sport and Italy’s image abroad, you are being ostracised here in Italy by your own pseudo-democratic establishment, just as has already happened to thousands of Russian athletes, conductors, musicians, artists and film directors.”
Paramonov added: “Even if this does not help you, we stand in sincere and human solidarity with you.”
The Italy head coach role was turned down by former Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola last week, after FICG head Giovanni Malago and Maldini confirmed they had held talks with the Catalan. The pair also revealed they had spoken to Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti about the role as part of the federation’s “ambitious project”.
