{"id":40450,"date":"2026-07-27T09:20:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/andrea-pirlo-will-not-be-appointed-italy-national-team-coach-due-to-sponsorship-deal-with-russian-gambling-company\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:20:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:20:27","slug":"andrea-pirlo-will-not-be-appointed-italy-national-team-coach-due-to-sponsorship-deal-with-russian-gambling-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/andrea-pirlo-will-not-be-appointed-italy-national-team-coach-due-to-sponsorship-deal-with-russian-gambling-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrea Pirlo will not be appointed Italy national team coach due to sponsorship deal with Russian gambling company"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>ROME (AP) \u2014 <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">andrea pirlo<\/span> I&#8217;m no longer in line for the coach. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Italy in crisis<\/span> Due to political concerns surrounding a sponsorship deal with a Russian gambling company.<\/p>\n<p>Pirlo himself confirmed his absence in an Instagram post on Monday, saying: &#8220;Last night I heard that I am no longer a candidate for the Italian national team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Several Italian politicians have expressed concerns about Pirlo and Fonbet&#8217;s ambassadorial contracts, saying the national team coach should not have conflicting views about Italy&#8217;s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Pirlo was prepared to step down from his current job as Dubai United manager, but his unsuccessful spells at Juventus and Sampdoria made him an unpopular choice.<\/p>\n<p>Pirlo said the contract with Fonbet relates to work in the United Arab Emirates and is for &#8220;solely commercial and sporting&#8221; purposes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To attribute political significance to that collaboration means ascribing to me beliefs that I have never expressed and that do not belong to me,&#8221; Pirlo added.<\/p>\n<p>Pirlo was at best a third choice after managers Carlo Ancelotti and Josep Guardiola turned down offers to take over the team, which has failed to qualify for three consecutive World Cups.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the appointment of former Italy national team managers Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte is being discussed again.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Gennaro Gattuso<\/span> Resigned as Italy national team coach by mutual agreement in April <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Italy lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/span> in the World Cup qualifying playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/andrea-pirlo-italy-coach-82b063563b31cfc33839cd2b2fa1b9b2\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROME (AP) \u2014 andrea pirlo I&#8217;m no longer in line for the coach. Italy in crisis Due to political concerns surrounding a sponsorship deal with a Russian gambling company. Pirlo himself confirmed his absence in an Instagram post on Monday, saying: &#8220;Last night I heard that I am no longer a candidate for the Italian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Andrea Pirlo will not be appointed Italy national team coach due to sponsorship deal with Russian gambling company - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/andrea-pirlo-will-not-be-appointed-italy-national-team-coach-due-to-sponsorship-deal-with-russian-gambling-company\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Andrea Pirlo will not be appointed Italy national team coach due to sponsorship deal with Russian gambling company - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ROME (AP) \u2014 andrea pirlo I&#8217;m no longer in line for the coach. 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