Pirlo out as Italy's head coach amid row over Russian gambling role

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Row over coach's Russian betting sponsorship deal drags in Maldini and Leonardo, leaving the Azzurri still without a manager. Italian football has been thrown into disarray after Andrea Pirlo's widely reported candicacy to become the national team's head coach collapsed amid a row over his commercial ties to a Russian betting company. The controversy erupted when it emerged that Pirlo was a global brand ambassador for Russian betting company Fonbet, fuelled further by his reported recent trip to Moscow and the fact that advertising gambling in Italy is illegal. The fallout from the high-profile case now also threatens to cost the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) both its technical director and sporting director. Pirlo breaks his silence Pirlo, 47, revealed in an Instagram post on Monday morning that he had learned the previous evening that he was no longer the candidate for the national team job. In a statement issued on Sunday night, the former Juventus and Italy midfielder defended himself against the accusations, insisting he had always operated within the law of the countries in which he had worked and honoured the contracts he had signed, and that the partnership at the centre of the controversy originated during his time working in the United Arab Emirates and was purely commercial and sporting in nature. He argued that attaching political meaning to the deal wrongly implied views he had never expressed.Notably, in his social media posts announcing his withdrawal, Pirlo thanked Maldini and Leonardo for their trust and confidence in him, pointedly making no mention of FIGC president Giovanni Malagò, who is understood to have taken the final decision to rule him out. According to newspaper Corriere della Sera, Malagò concluded that Pirlo could no longer be considered for the role - not on footballing grounds, but on grounds of propriety, given the reputational damage caused by the Russian sponsorship affair. The federation's lawyer has reportedly been reviewing the contract details, but talks with Pirlo have been definitively broken off. Maldini and Leonardo The decision has reportedly infuriated Maldini and Leonardo, who were said to regard the move as undermining the autonomy of the project they had been building since taking up their posts at the FIGC only days earlier. Reports suggest Leonardo, in particular, has considered resigning, while Maldini's own position is now in doubt. With the search for a new head coach thrown back to square one, former Italy boss Roberto Mancini has emerged as Malagò's preferred candidate, seen as the most straightforward option should Maldini and Leonardo step back from the process. Antonio Conte has been mooted as a secondary option, while figures such as Giorgio Chiellini have also featured in wider speculation about the federation's contingency planning. Before Pirlo was tipped for the top job, Carlo Ancelotti was reportedly considered for the role before the FIGC made a failed attempt to lure Pep Guardiola away from Manchester City. Malagò was reported to be meeting with FIGC components in Rome on Monday, ahead of a federal council session on Tuesday, in an attempt to set out a definitive strategy. With Italy still lacking a head coach, pressure on the federation to resolve the impasse quickly is mounting by the day. This is a developing story...Photo credit: sbonsi / Shutterstock.com