{"id":5129,"date":"2026-04-23T07:51:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5129"},"modified":"2026-04-23T07:51:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:51:52","slug":"trump-envoy-asks-fifa-to-replace-iran-with-italy-at-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5129","title":{"rendered":"Trump envoy asks FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>Where there&#8217;s a will, there&#8217;s a way&#8230;<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose drop-cap \">\n<p>A Trump envoy has asked FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>If Italy, four-times World Cup winners, weren&#8217;t already embarrassed enough in failing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, gaining entry through the back door will surely do it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>As per reports from the Financial Times, geopolitics could get its grubby mitts on football&#8217;s greatest event as politicians cook up ways to repair relations between the US, Italy and, of course, the Pope.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:0\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the outlet: \u201cI confirm I have suggested to Trump and [Fifa president Gianni] Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the\u00a0World Cup. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019m an Italian native and it would be a dream to see the\u00a0Azzurri\u00a0at a US-hosted tournament. With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>So far, there has been no response on this request.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Italy have endured a tumultuous record in major international competitions in recent year, not playing in a World Cup since 2014, and not making it to the knockouts since they last won it in 2006.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>They will be missing the latest edition after failing to top their qualifying group and subsequently being knocked out by Bosnia and Herzegovina in the playoff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:1\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>On the other hand, Iran qualified for sport&#8217;s biggest event all the way back in March 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>It would come as little surprise that if the US were to ban Iran from competing in the World Cup, that Italy would be their natural choice of predelection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>With around 16 million Americans claiming Italian ancestry, this would certainly create more interest in the States, as well as probably sell a few more tickets &#8211; which let&#8217;s be honest, is probably the most attractive aspect for the organisers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<p>#Trump #envoy #asks #FIFA #replace #Iran #Italy #World #Cup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where there&#8217;s a will, there&#8217;s a way&#8230; A Trump envoy has asked FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. If Italy, four-times World Cup winners, weren&#8217;t already embarrassed enough in failing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, gaining entry through the back door will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2813,1463,642,1901,613,776,923,3019,1422,82,135,1679],"class_list":{"0":"post-5129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-asks","9":"tag-cup","10":"tag-envoy","11":"tag-fifa","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-italy","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-replace","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-trump","18":"tag-world","19":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}