{"id":602619,"date":"2026-04-24T00:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602619\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:41:09","slug":"italy-dismisses-replacing-iran-at-world-cup-after-trump-official-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602619\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy dismisses replacing Iran at World Cup after Trump official idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROME (AP) \u2014 Italian sports officials say four-time champion Italy is not interested in replacing Iran at the upcoming World Cup<\/a> following a suggestion to that effect by a Trump administration official.<\/p>\n

Iran has not withdrawn from the World Cup, and the team is preparing to play<\/a> in the U.S. despite the war in the Middle East. FIFA has insisted<\/a> its group stage games near Los Angeles and in Seattle will go ahead as planned in June.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times reported that Paolo Zampolli, the U.S. special envoy for global partnerships, had suggested the swap to President Donald Trump<\/a> and FIFA president Gianni Infantino<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a phone interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Zampolli emphasized that \u201cmy request is not a political request.\u201d The ask, which was made to Trump and Infantino on Wednesday, was meant as a contingency plan in case Iran could not participate in the soccer tournament at the last minute. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a dream,\u201d Zampolli told the AP. \u201cMy request was for the Italian people and the American-Italian people.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said in the FT interview that, with four titles, the Italian national team\u2019s appearance in the World Cup would be justified. <\/p>\n

Italian officials pushed back hard at the suggestion, with Sports Minister Andrea Abodi saying Thursday that \u201cfirst of all, it\u2019s not possible. Secondly, it\u2019s not a good idea.\u201d <\/p>\n

Luciano Buonfiglio, the president of the Italian Olympic Committee, which oversees all sports in Italy, also dismissed the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would feel offended,\u201d Buonfiglio said. \u201cYou need to deserve to go to the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti called the suggested swap \u201cshameful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours later, Trump was asked at the White House about Iranian soccer players potentially not being allowed into the U.S. for the World Cup. He initially joked, \u201cI don\u2019t think about it too much\u201d before adding, \u201cThat\u2019s an interesting question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me give that some thought,\u201d Trump added. <\/p>\n

He then deferred to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said, \u201cNothing from the U.S. has told them they can\u2019t come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with Iran would be, not their athletes. It would be some of the other people that they want to bring with them,\u201d Rubio said, suggesting that Iran\u2019s soccer team could bring in people loyal to militant groups disguised as journalists and trainers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe may not be able to let them in,\u201d Rubio said of people around the team. \u201cBut not the athletes themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added that there had been \u201cspeculation that Iran may decide not to come, but then Italy could fill their spot,\u201d without adding details. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they decide not to come on their own, it\u2019s \u2018cause they decided not to come,\u201d the secretary of state said of Iranian athletes. <\/p>\n

While Iran was among the first teams to qualify for the World Cup, Italy missed out<\/a> for the third consecutive tournament, resulting in the resignations of its national team coach<\/a> and soccer federation president<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zampolli has long been a part of the Trump family orbit, having introduced then-Melania Knauss to Donald Trump at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998. He regularly posts on social media about his meetings with Infantino, calling him the \u201cKing of Soccer.\u201d Trump last year appointed him as special representative for global partnerships.<\/p>\n

In March, The New York Times reported that Zampolli had reached out to a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, informing him that the mother of his child was in the country illegally as the two were locked in a custody dispute. She was ultimately deported.<\/p>\n

The White House did not return a request for comment. Its World Cup task force, housed under the Department of Homeland Security, said it had no comment. FIFA also would not comment.<\/p>\n

The Iranian embassy in Rome denounced Zampolli\u2019s remarks in a comment on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball belongs to the people, not to politicians,\u201d the embassy said. \u201cItaly earned its soccer prowess on the field, not thanks to political maneuvers. The attempt to exclude Iran from the World Cup shows only the \u2018moral bankruptcy\u2019 of the United States, which fears even the presence of 11 young Iranians on the field of play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s status at the World Cup, which starts in June, has been a source of debate and concern since the U.S. and Israel launched military attacks on the country in February.<\/p>\n

Trump in March discouraged Iran from participating<\/a> in the tournament, citing safety concerns.<\/p>\n

FIFA <\/a> has consistently said Iran will stick to the World Cup schedule decided last December, and refused to negotiate any suggestion <\/a> of moving the team\u2019s games to co-host Mexico.<\/p>\n

An Iranian government spokesperson said Wednesday that the men\u2019s national team<\/a> is preparing for \u201cproud and successful participation\u201d in its World Cup games in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Iran earned one of eight guaranteed World Cup places allocated to the Asian Football Confederation. Should Iran pull out, in theory the replacement should be the United Arab Emirates, the highest-ranked Asian team that didn\u2019t qualify.<\/p>\n

One possible element of uncertainty is the language of the World Cup tournament rules.<\/p>\n

FIFA wrote that it can decide to replace a withdrawn team \u201cwith another association,\u201d though without specifying the replacement must come from the same continental confederation.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Dunbar reported from Geneva and Kim reported from Washington. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROME (AP) \u2014 Italian sports officials say four-time champion Italy is not interested in replacing Iran at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[248413,12,7183,8363,793,262134,7185,801,1570,237696,228242,6801,51389,262133,643,7182,262131,156118,403,99,262132,800,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-602619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andrea-abodi","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-fifa","11":"tag-fifa-world-cup","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-giancarlo-giorgetti","14":"tag-gianni-infantino","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-iran-government","17":"tag-iran-national-soccer-team","18":"tag-iran-war","19":"tag-italy","20":"tag-italy-government","21":"tag-luciano-buonfiglio","22":"tag-marco-rubio","23":"tag-melania-trump","24":"tag-paolo-zampolli","25":"tag-seattle-redhawks","26":"tag-soccer","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-united-states-national-soccer-team","29":"tag-washington-news","30":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}