Andrea Pirlo has said he is no longer a candidate to coach the Italian national team after days of controversy over his links to a Russian betting company.

His appointment as Italy’s next coach had not been confirmed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), but was considered almost certain.

But over the weekend several Italian politicians criticized the FIGC’s choice, pointing out that Pirlo, 47, had taken on the role of global ambassador for Russia’s Fonbet last October.

Hours later, Italian football was plunged further into crisis when Sky Sport Italia reported that two other senior FIGC figures, Paolo Maldini and Leonardo, had decided to resign.

Maldini was appointed technical director of the FIGC just over two weeks ago.

He and former Brazil international Leonardo, his advisor and former teammate at AC Milan, had been tasked with finding a new coach and rebuilding the team after three consecutive failures in World Cup qualification.

It comes after Pirlo was no longer considered for the head coaching role over his links to betting company Fonbet, which has sponsored several sporting events involving veterans of Moscow’s war in Ukraine and organized events in Russia in which Pirlo appeared alongside pro-Kremlin figures.

“Anyone who is or has been promoting Russia after 2022 should not hold national office,” said Carlo Calenda of the centrist Azione party.

“After finding out last night that I am no longer a candidate for the Italian national team, I feel it is my duty to clarify some aspects,” Pirlo, a former Internazionale, Juventus, AC Milan and Azzurri midfielder, wrote in an Instagram post on Monday morning.

“During these last few days I have followed with great bitterness the debate that revolved around my name,” he said, adding that any “professional collaboration” he undertook as coach of United FC in Dubai “was exclusively of a commercial and sporting nature.”

“Assigning political meaning to that collaboration means attributing to me beliefs that I have never expressed and that do not belong to me,” Pirlo wrote.

Pina Picierno, vice president of the European Parliament, said at the weekend that Italian football “desperately needs a cultural, ethical and managerial revolution” but that Pirlo’s election “goes in exactly the opposite direction.”

On the contrary, Pirlo received the support of the Russian ambassador in Rome, Aleksey Paramonov, who said that it was “sad” to note that, “despite [Pirlo’s] extraordinary contribution to world sport and to Italy’s image in the world, now in his own country he is being ostracized.”

Scrutiny of Pirlo’s ties to Fonbet and Russia intensified last spring, when he participated in a Fonbet event held in Moscow, where he and former teammate Marco Materazzi signed autographs at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Also performing at the event was pro-Kremlin nationalist pop star Shaman, who has repeatedly expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At the time, skeletal Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the Winter Olympics because his helmet represented other athletes killed in the war, noted that the Luzhniki event had taken place on the same day as a major Russian attack on Ukraine.

Heraskevych also criticized Pirlo for appearing alongside Russian footballer Artem Dzyuba, who after the war in Ukraine posted on social media that he was “proud to be Russian.”

“It’s sad to see how children’s legends are morally ruined,” Heraskevych said.

The Italian football community has been undergoing a lot of soul searching after the team failed to qualify for a third World Cup earlier this year. Italy’s defeat on penalties to Bosnia-Herzegovina in April led to the resignation of coach Gennaro Gattuso, as well as a reorganization of the FIGC echelons.

Earlier this month, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti were unsuccessfully contacted ahead of Pirlo.

According to Italian media, other names currently being considered are Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini, who led Italy to Euro 2020 glory before failing to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar and unceremoniously resigning from the Italy bench to coach Saudi Arabia.