Since October, Pirlo has been an ambassador for the Russian gambling company Fonbet, which, according to Forbes, has connections to the Russian regime.
Both the newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano have written that Pirlo has accepted the head coach's job.
But according to the Reuters news agency, key figures within the Italian Football Federation see the Russian connections as an obstacle, and it is therefore not clear that Pirlo will get the job.
Several leading politicians have also been critical of giving Pirlo the job.
Pina Picierno, vice-president of the European Parliament, is one of them.
The important thing is that he has voluntarily and repeatedly lent his reputation to normalising Putin's regime, she told the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
