Italy Rejects Proposal to Replace Iran at 2026 World Cup

sportsApr 24, 202628490

Italian sports officials rejected a proposal that Italy replace Iran at the 2026 World Cup after a U.S. envoy linked to Donald Trump suggested the swap. Four-time champion Italy said it has no interest in taking Iran’s berth and called the idea "shameful." U.S. officials said Iranian players will be allowed to attend but raised concerns about certain non-athlete delegation members, and FIFA continues to plan for Iran to compete, highlighting how geopolitics could alter the tournament lineup.

Mother Jones

@motherjones.com

If Zampolli does get a role in organizing the World Cup, fans, players, journalists, and other travelers may be subjected to the Trump administration’s brutal immigration policies.

9845d ago

Khashoggi's Ghost

@urocklive1.bsky.social

Trump suggested that Iran should be replaced at the World Cup, but Italy objected, and Iran is still planning to play. Italian officials pushed back hard at the suggestion, saying Thursday that “first of all, it’s not possible. Secondly, it’s not a good idea.” apnews.com/article/worl...

8645d ago

🇺🇸DragonLady🍁☘️2

Thirdly, the world does nor revolve around the whims of a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist.

Renée the Fucking Bitch Witch ✨️ 🇺🇦 ♿️ 🖇2

Replace the US, who is the aggressor in the war.

🐺☯♋︎🅼🆉🅼🅸🅰🅼🅰🆁🅸🅰♋︎☯🐺

@mzmiamaria.bsky.social

Grassroots groups in host cities are concerned w the World Cup approaching, “We're still waiting for public commitments from FIFA& host city organisers on plans to protect residents,workers,&visitors." Warning of risks to privacy,racial profiling,ice,detention facilities,even death #AreWeGreatYet

2745d ago

The New York Times

@nytimes.com

A Trump administration official this week proposed that Italy’s national soccer team take Iran’s spot at the World Cup this summer. Supporters didn’t appreciate the pity invite.

6645d ago

lionelbart.bsky.social3

Disgraceful . Iran qualified and deserve to be at the World Cup . Fifa should take the WC away from the US only that ain't ever going to happen . 🤔

The Washington Post

@washingtonpost.com

Paolo Zampolli, a longtime friend of President Trump who is serving as special envoy for global partnerships, suggested that Italy replace Iran in the World Cup, which will be held in the U.S. in June. Italian officials expressed no interest in a substitution.

3345d ago

Jossie.the.cat9

NO. FIFA should had pulled the worldcup from the US the very moment it invaded Venezuela. PERIOD.

norbizness7

Oh the Epstein guy that got his girlfriend deported. You can mention that, you know.

Bryan Long2

So is that the guy who was friends with Trump and EPSTEIN?

Lauren Ashley Davis

@laurenmeidasa.bsky.social

Amnesty International and dozens of U.S. civil and human rights groups issued a “ World Cup travel advisory” Thursday, warning tournament visitors of “rising authoritarianism and increasing violence” in the United States. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

2145d ago

Truthout

@truthout.org

Paolo Zampolli — who reportedly introduced Trump to Melania Trump — has personally asked both Trump and Infantino to remove Iran from the World Cup tournament, and be replaced by Italy, who did not qualify.

1945d ago

Murshed Zaheed

@murshedz.bsky.social

Is this the same Paolo Zampolli ("Melania’s former modeling agent and a onetime Trump Organization real estate broker" w/ "past circumstantial connections" to Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell ) who is reportedly asking #FIFA to replace Iran w/ Italy in the #WorldCup? prospect.org/2026/04/23/d...

"In the Daily Mail, Paolo Zampolli—Melania’s former modeling agent and a onetime Trump Organization real estate broker, currently serving on the Kennedy Center board and in an undefined State Department role as U.S. Special Envoy for Global Partnerships—offered to testify before Congress that he, in fact, introduced Donald to the woman then known as Melania Knauss at a party at the Kit Kat Club in New York in 1998. At the time, Zampolli was the founder and president of ID Model Management, and he has long claimed credit for sponsoring an H1-B work visa for Knauss when she was still an unknown model looking for a better future than her native Slovenia offered.

If Melania doesn’t take up Zampolli on his offer, it may not only be because it would only highlight his past circumstantial connections to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The two men discussed buying, but ultimately failed in their bid to acquire Elite Models following its 2004 bankruptcy. And he later partnered with Maxwell on the TerraMar Project, a paper-tiger environmental nonprofit Maxwell promoted at the United Nations; that shuttered project predates Zampolli’s current initiative, We Are The Oceans, which he’s since celebrated at the Kennedy Center."

1745d ago

Murshed Zaheed4

Also reportedly the same Paolo Zampolli ... 😱

The Canary

@thecanaryuk.bsky.social

The proposal put forward by Trump, to replace the Iranian national team, has been met with widespread rejection and clear mockery in Italy

1345d ago

Soccer America

@socceramerica.bsky.social

If USA-Paraguay is not packed to capacity at SoFi (69,650 seats), it will give the public — the world — a horrible first impression of the World Cup. But it will be a bigger shame if the the ticket prices have kept out passionate U.S. fans. www.socceramerica.com/the-usa-para... @pkedit.bsky.social

1445d ago

Finbarr Bermingham

@fbermingham.bsky.social

A top envoy to Trump has asked Fifa to replace Iran with Italy in the World Cup, arguing Italy’s 4 World Cup titles justify awarding it the slot The plan was an effort to repair ties between Trump & Meloni who fell out over his attacks on the Pope

1046d ago

Reuters Legal

@legal.reuters.com

Advocacy groups issued a travel advisory on Thursday, warning that visitors traveling to the U.S. for the 2026 World Cup may face arbitrary detention or deportation, among other human rights abuses.

1045d ago

Marwood

@andmarwood.bsky.social

It's be better if we just held the World Cup elsewhere.

845d ago

Jules Boykoff

@julesboykoff.bsky.social

Where arrogance meets political interference at the crossroads of soccer: Donald Trump special envoy Paolo Zampolli asks FIFA to replace Iran with Italy in the 2026 World Cup, in part to try to repair ties between Trump & Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni www.theguardian.com/football/202...

846d ago

nfariousactivities.bsky.social

@nfariousactivities.bsky.social

————— The Athletic World Cup visitors to U.S. ‘vulnerable to serious harm’, civil rights organisations warn www.nytimes.com/athletic/721...

845d ago

3 sources

viewlinemedia.comCould Italy really replace Iran at World Cup 2026?wcvb.comItaly dismisses replacing Iran at the World Cup after suggestion by Trump official wmur.comItaly dismisses replacing Iran at the World Cup after suggestion by Trump official

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Italy Rejects Proposal to Replace Iran at 2026 World Cup

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