Andrea Pirlo says he feels “great bitterness” after confirming that he is “no longer a candidate” for the Italy head coach role.

The national team job has been vacant since Genaro Gattuso left the position in April following the team’s failure to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

Reports in Italy over the weekend suggested that Pirlo’s candidacy for the position was in jepoardy due to his links with Russian betting company Fonbet. The 2006 World Cup winner, who has coached UAE Pro League club Dubai United for the past year, has been a brand ambassador for Fonbet since October.

The icon has previously explained that his association with Fonbet was linked to his job as the coach of Dubai United in the UAE, and is: “Exclusively for commercial and sports purposes,” adding: “Attributing a political significance to that collaboration means attributing beliefs to me that I have never expressed and don’t belong to me.”

Pirlo released a statement via his social media on Monday concerning his “professional arrangement” that he regretted that a “decision of a sporting nature” had been “dragged into a public debate” with politican implications.

“Over the last few days, I have followed with great bitterness the debate that has arisen in regard to my name and the possibility of taking on the role of head coach of the Italian national team,” Pirlo wrote.