{"id":584949,"date":"2026-04-04T12:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584949\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T12:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:13:08","slug":"dont-wait-four-more-years-world-cup-co-hosts-canada-offer-italy-fans-free-shirt-swap-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584949\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t wait four more years\u2019: World Cup co-hosts Canada offer Italy fans free shirt swap | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Italian football fans are being encouraged to put their national team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/world-cup-2026\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Cup 2026<\/a> qualification failure behind them \u2013 by backing co-hosts Canada instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Canada Soccer, the national governing body for the sport, is offering a jersey swap on Saturday for fans in Toronto\u2019s Little Italy district. \u201cDear Italian soccer fans, Don\u2019t wait four more years. Swap your jersey for Canada,\u201d read a post on X.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Italy would have faced Canada in Group B had they won their qualifying playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/31\/bosnia-herzegovina-italy-world-cup-2026-qualifying-playoff-match-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">but the Azzurri lost on penalties<\/a>, missing out on the men\u2019s World Cup finals for the third tournament in succession.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Instead, Jesse Marsch\u2019s team will face Bosnia and Herzegovina along with Qatar and Switzerland in their group games \u2013 and are hoping Canada\u2019s large Italian diaspora will swap blue shirts for red this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cCanada Soccer is inviting Italian-Canadians to get behind the home team,\u201d read a further statement. \u201cOn Saturday 4 April from 10am to 2pm (EST), Canada Soccer will be outside Cafe Diplomatico on College Street in Toronto, offering fans the chance to swap their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/italy\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Italy<\/a> colours for a Canada jersey and join the momentum heading into the Fifa World Cup 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cCost: Free. Bring your Italian jersey, leave with a Canadian one,\u201d the statement added. \u201cAvailable while supplies last, fans are encouraged to arrive early to be kitted out.\u201d The statement also included a message in Italian: \u201cQuesta volta \u00e8 il Canada\u201d, which translates to \u201cThis time, it\u2019s Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">According to a 2021 census, there are around 1.5 million Canadians with either full or partial Italian ancestry. Almost a third of them live in Toronto and its surrounding areas, and the city\u2019s BMO Field stadium will host Canada\u2019s World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 12 June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Ticket prices for that game have soared this week, with all unsold tickets listed at $3,125 and most resale seats costing a similar price. Saturday\u2019s free jersey swap may be the most affordable way that local Italian fans can get involved with the World Cup this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italian football fans are being encouraged to put their national team\u2019s World Cup 2026 qualification failure behind them&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-584949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}