‘Great Bitterness’: Pirlo Speaks After Losing Italy Job
Andrea Pirlo’s widely expected appointment as head coach of Italy’s national team collapsed on Monday, July 27, 2026, after the 47 year old confirmed he was no longer in contention, ending a candidacy undone not by his coaching record but by his commercial links to a Russian bookmaker.
“After learning last night that I am no longer a candidate for the bench of the Italian national team, I believe it is my duty to clarify a few points,” the 2006 World Cup winner wrote on Instagram, adding that he had followed “with great bitterness” the debate around his name.
Pirlo had emerged as the frontrunner for one of European football’s most storied jobs after Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti both distanced themselves from the role. Italian media reported he had agreed a four year deal worth about 1.5 million euros a season and was due to be unveiled this week, a day before the Italian Football Federation was set to confirm him.
The controversy centred on his position as global ambassador for Fonbet, one of Russia’s largest betting firms, a partnership he entered in October 2025. In May 2026 he travelled to Moscow for the company’s “Football Day” at the Luzhniki Stadium ahead of the Russian Cup final, appearing alongside fellow 2006 world champions Marco Materazzi and Francesco Totti. The arrangement drew objections from federation officials and Italian lawmakers in a country that enforces strict limits on gambling advertising.
“The professional collaboration at the centre of recent controversy arose as part of my working experience in the United Arab Emirates and is exclusively of a commercial and sporting nature,” Pirlo wrote, rejecting attempts to attach political meaning to the deal.
The episode caps a turbulent year for Italian football. The four times world champions failed to reach the 2026 finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the first 48 team edition, after losing a qualifying playoff to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in late March. It marked a third straight World Cup absence, extending a drought that reaches back to their last appearance in 2014.
That failure triggered a wholesale clear out. Federation president Gabriele Gravina, delegation chief and goalkeeping great Gianluigi Buffon, and coach Gennaro Gattuso all stepped down within days. Giovanni Malago, the former head of the Italian Olympic Committee, was reported to have taken over as federation president after a June 22 election, while Paolo Maldini, the former AC Milan and Italy defender, was installed as technical director this month with the task of rebuilding toward the 2030 qualifying campaign.
Pirlo’s candidacy was championed by Maldini and special advisor Leonardo, both former Milan teammates, who according to Italian reports had preferred him to the more decorated Antonio Conte. Some reports suggested the pair could now step back from their roles. Pirlo thanked them for their “esteem and confidence.”
His coaching record had long fuelled misgivings. Since turning to management in 2020, he won a single Coppa Italia at Juventus, the club where he shone as a player, before being dismissed after one season. Spells at Sampdoria and Turkish side Fatih Karagumruk brought little success, and he currently manages United FC in the United Arab Emirates.
With Pirlo out, attention has swung back to more experienced names. Conte, who has claimed Serie A titles with three different clubs and the Premier League with Chelsea, is again in the frame, according to la Gazzetta dello Sport, alongside Roberto Mancini, who led Italy to the European Championship in 2021.
The federation has yet to issue a formal decision on the coaching post.