Paolo Maldini says Andrea Pirlo’s association with Russian betting company Fonbet would not have created legal obstacles if the Italian Football Federation had genuinely wanted to appoint him as head coach of the Italy national team.
Maldini, who spent only 17 days as technical director of the FIGC, believes Pirlo’s candidacy was ultimately stopped by public reaction and opposition within the organisation rather than by any binding legal issue.
Speaking in an interview with Corriere della Sera, Maldini explained that he had first tried to persuade Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola to take charge of Italy. After those attempts failed, he turned to his former AC Milan team-mate Pirlo, who is currently head coach of Dubai United in the UAE.
The proposed appointment, however, attracted criticism from sections of Italy’s support and from some parts of the FIGC. Pirlo’s role as a global ambassador for Fonbet prompted questions about whether his commercial relationship with a betting company was compatible with leading the national team.
There were also concerns that the relationship might create legal difficulties. Maldini insists those concerns were overstated and says Pirlo was prepared to end his association with Fonbet in order to take the position.
“I would say so (that Pirlo’s ties to Fonbet did have an effect on his candidacy for the Italy head coach job),” Maldini told Corriere della Sera.
“We didn’t know about it. Public opinion has done its job. But, there was nothing on a legal level that would have prevented Andrea from becoming the head coach of the national team.
“It was definitely exaggerated in a certain way. Pirlo was willing to end his relations with the Russian betting company. He’s a decent person, he didn’t deserve all this fuss. They brought out the code of ethics, a dignity decree. But, if there was a genuine desire to have him as head coach, there wouldn’t have been any legal obstacles.”
Maldini said the final decision over Pirlo’s appointment was made by FIGC President Giovanni Malago. According to Maldini, Malago contacted him and Leonardo to say that the federation would no longer pursue Pirlo and that responsibility for selecting the next coach would now rest with him.
“He phoned me and Leonardo to say: ‘In my opinion, we can no longer go for Pirlo. From today, the coach is up to me. From today, the rules change, I decide on the coach and you endorse it’.
“But I had a job and responsibilities and I thought this was an unacceptable thing to say. We took 24 hours and then handed in our resignation, on a contract that hadn’t even started. I’m used to things being done in a different way. There was no longer the confidence that we needed to carry out an enormous job.”
Maldini said the dispute left him unable to continue in the role because he no longer had the authority he had been promised when accepting the position. His resignation, submitted alongside Leonardo’s, came before the contract had formally begun.
Pirlo, who played alongside Maldini at AC Milan, is now managing Dubai United in the second tier of UAE football. Maldini’s comments form part of a wider interview in which he discusses his brief spell at the FIGC and his breakdown in relations with Malago.
