Andrea Pirlo is out of the running for the Italy national team job. And he’s not happy about how it went down.
The 2006 World Cup winner and former Juventus coach confirmed on social media that he’s no longer a candidate to replace Luciano Spalletti as Azzurri boss. Pirlo said he learned “last night” that he’d been scratched from consideration, and the whole experience left him with a sour taste.
This all got messy fast. Pirlo had emerged as the frontrunner after both Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti said no to the job. Newly-appointed FIGC technical director Paolo Maldini and his advisor Leonardo were pushing hard for Pirlo. It looked like a done deal — until people started asking questions about his side gig.
The Fonbet problem
Over the weekend, reports surfaced that Pirlo is a global brand ambassador for Fonbet, a Russian betting company. Italy has strict laws against gambling advertising, and that created a problem the federation couldn’t ignore. Even if Pirlo himself wasn’t breaking any laws, the optics were brutal. You can’t have the national team coach fronting a betting operation in a country where that kind of thing is heavily restricted.
Pirlo pushed back on the idea that his relationship with Fonbet had anything to do with politics or gambling in the traditional sense. He said the partnership is “exclusively of a commercial and sporting nature” tied to his work as a coach in the UAE with United FC. But the damage was done.
“I have watched with great bitterness as the debate regarding my name and the possibility of my taking on the role unfold,” Pirlo wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. He thanked Maldini and Leonardo for their support but made it clear he thinks the situation got blown way out of proportion. “Attributing political meaning to this collaboration means attributing convictions to me that I have never expressed and that I do not hold.”
Where Italy goes from here
The federation now has to find someone else. Fast. Italy missed the 2022 World Cup and the pressure to get things right for 2026 is real. The names being tossed around include Luciano Spalletti (currently in charge but under fire), Roberto Mancini (who left for Saudi Arabia money), and maybe even a dark horse like Vincenzo Italiano.
But none of them come with the star power or the Maldini seal of approval that Pirlo had. For now, the guy who made the no-look pass cool again is stuck watching from the sideline. And he’s not hiding that it stings.
“My love for Italy does not depend on a job,” Pirlo wrote. “It is part of my history, my identity, and will continue to accompany me, always.”
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