{"id":240001,"date":"2026-04-23T20:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/moral-bankruptcy-italy-responds-after-president-trumps-world-cup-switch-request\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:55:00","slug":"moral-bankruptcy-italy-responds-after-president-trumps-world-cup-switch-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/moral-bankruptcy-italy-responds-after-president-trumps-world-cup-switch-request\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Moral bankruptcy\u2019: Italy responds after President Trump\u2019s World Cup switch request"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Italy has played down suggestions that its national team could replace Iran at the World Cup, following reports that an envoy to US President Donald Trump had asked FIFA to consider the move.<\/p>\n

US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the Financial Times it would be a \u201cdream\u201d to see four-time World Cup winners Italy at the finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada despite the fact they lost in a qualification playoff last month.<\/p>\n

However, sports minister Andrea Abodi said on Thursday that a reinstatement of Italy \u201cfirst, is not possible; second, is not appropriate, you qualify on the pitch\u201d, according to Italian news agencies ANSA and AGI.<\/p>\n

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That view was echoed by the president of Italy\u2019s Olympic committee, Luciano Buonfiglio.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now ><\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI would feel offended. You have to earn your place in the World Cup,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Iranian embassy to Rome responded saying that the suggestion showed US \u201cmoral bankruptcy\u201d and that Italy did not need \u201cpolitical privileges\u201d to demonstrate its football greatness.<\/p>\n

The idea was an effort to repair ties between Trump and Giorgia Meloni after the Italian prime minister fell out with the president after criticising his attack on Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war, the FT reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cI confirm I have suggested to Trump and (FIFA President Gianni) Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup. I\u2019m an Italian native and it would be a dream to see the Azzurri at a US-hosted tournament. With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion,\u201d Zampolli said.<\/p>\n

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US President Donald Trump. Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI \/ AFP<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Italy has won the World Cup four times but it missed out on the tournament for a third successive time after losing a penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their qualifying playoff final.<\/p>\n

\u201cItaly has earned its greatness in football on the pitch, not thanks to political privileges,\u201d the Iranian embassy said on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attempt to exclude Iran from the World Cup only reveals the \u2018moral bankruptcy\u2019 of the United States, which is afraid even of the presence of eleven young Iranians on the field of play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s participation in the World Cup has been thrown into doubt by the war with the US and Israel that broke out on February 28.<\/p>\n

The Iranian football federation (FFIRI) had said in April it was \u201cnegotiating\u201d with FIFA to relocate the country\u2019s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico.<\/p>\n

But Infantino told AFP last month, while attending Iran\u2019s friendly against Costa Rica in Turkey, that Iran will be at the World Cup and that they will play \u201cwhere they are supposed to be, according to the draw\u201d.<\/p>\n

The FIFA chief reiterated that stance in Washington last week. When contacted by AFP about Zampolli\u2019s suggestion on Thursday, FIFA referred to Infantino\u2019s recent comments.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Zampolli made a similar suggestion, proposing to FIFA that Italy should replace Iran at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because of the Islamic Republic\u2019s crackdown on protesters at that time. His proposal fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n

Zampolli is an Italian-American socialite, businessman and founded a modelling agency, who claims to have introduced Trump to his current wife Melania Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italy has played down suggestions that its national team could replace Iran at the World Cup, following reports that an envoy to US President Donald Trump had asked FIFA to consider the move. US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the Financial Times it would be a \u201cdream\u201d to see four-time World Cup winners Italy at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-240001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}