Pirlo's Fonbet ambassador role sparks political uproar ahead of expected Italy coach appointment

The controversy

Andrea Pirlo, the former Italy midfielder, is the frontrunner to become the next commissioner tecnico of the national team, but his financial ties to a Russian betting company have turned the appointment into a political firestorm. Since October 2025, Pirlo has served as a global ambassador for Fonbet, the leading Russian sportsbook. The company itself touted the deal as proof that Moscow can still attract global sports icons despite Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. The link is further cemented through United FC, the Emirati club Pirlo represents, whose president Sergey Lomakin has interests in the betting agency.

Anyone who makes or has made propaganda for Russia after 2022 should never hold national positions.

Political backlash

The storm reached Italy's political arena on 25 July. Carlo Calenda, leader of the Azione party, said that no one who has promoted Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 deserves any national office. Mauro Berruto, head of sports in the Democratic Party secretariat and former coach of the men's volleyball national team, was equally pointed. He stressed that the Democratic Party would never accept any compromise on sports betting advertising, which the football league is pursuing, and that the Russian origin of the sponsor made it worse.

I hope with all my heart that if Pirlo is chosen as coach, the first thing he does is resolve this embarrassment by giving up that role. He speaks to a movement, to a world, and holds an institutional position that demands exemplary conduct.

Benedetto Della Vedova, a deputy of +Europa, also weighed in on social media. While extending good wishes to Pirlo and the national team, he called the decision to become a global ambassador for Russia's first betting agency incomprehensible and wrong.

The Moscow visit

Tensions flared most sharply over Pirlo's trip to Moscow in May 2026. He attended Fonbet's "Football Day" at Luzhniki Stadium, signing autographs alongside Russian players like Artem Dzyuba. That same day, Vladimir Putin ordered one of the largest aerial assaults on Ukraine of the war, involving 600 drones and 90 missiles. The coincidence prompted Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych to condemn Pirlo publicly.

Today was one of the biggest Russian attacks, during which 600 drones and 90 missiles were launched against Ukraine. And today Italian football legend Andrea Pirlo was spotted in Moscow next to Russian footballer Dzyuba, who openly supports the Kremlin's policy and the killing of Ukrainians. It is sad to see childhood legends turn into moral failures for whom nothing is more precious than Russian rubles. Shame.

Heraskevych had himself been at the centre of controversy during the Milan-Cortina Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating Ukrainian athletes killed in the war, a gesture that cost him a disqualification.

Incompatibility question

The controversy may force a resolution even without political pressure. Holding a contract with a betting company is expected to be incompatible with the role of Italy's national team coach. Both the internal rules of the Italian Football Federation and the broader public sentiment appear to leave Pirlo with little choice but to sever his link with Fonbet if he wants to take the bench.