Italy’s repechage to World Cup, comes another not-so-encouraging sign
FIFA continues not to take a final position on whether or not Iran will participate in the World Cup to be staged from June 11 to July 19. And so hope remains kindled for a number of national teams that have not punched their tickets for Canada, Mexico (which will host the inaugural match between the hosts and South Africa, ed.) and the United States: dreaming of repechage in various capacities are the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Denmark, Bolivia, Nigeria and others, including Italy, of course.
From Los Angeles, where Iran is expected to play two matches (on June 16 against New Zealand and on June 21 against Belgium, ed.), an encouraging signal for the Azzurri does not arrive: an image of a store in which both the first and second jerseys of our national team are on sale at half price is circulating on the web. Evidently they don’t believe in it there anymore.
And then there are the words: further dampening the Azzurri’s hopes was Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who speaking at the Invest forum organized by CNBC said that Iran will “definitely” take part in the World Cup. “I went to visit them. They are also a pretty strong team. And they really want to play, and it’s right for them to play. Sports should stay out of politics,” the Fifa number one said, explaining that he met with the Iranian national team in Antalya, Turkey, about two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, there is a significant opening on the White House front. Andrew Giuliani, head of the U.S. task force for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, said U.S. authorities are preparing for Iran’s participation despite lingering geopolitical tensions. “I’m not going to speak for the Iranian team, but I can say that the president, when I discussed this with him, invited the Iranian national team to come here. So we are expecting them here from us,” Giuliani said. It is a position that marks a marked softening from Donald Trump’s previous post on Truth, in which the U.S. president had been decidedly more hostile and ambiguous on the issue, writing that the Iranian national team would be “welcome at the World Cup,” but that he did not think it was “appropriate for them to be there, for their lives and safety.”
Rai television commentator Alberto Rimedio pointed out that the first alternative to Iran might not be European, pointing to the United Arab Emirates, first of the unqualified Asians after losing the playoff to Iraq, as the most natural candidate for a direct replacement. Cameroon has also made its voice heard, claiming the right to be included in the repechage discourse and challenging the idea that Nigeria can automatically be considered the African nominee of choice. The deadline for any decision is set for May 12: until then, anything can still change.
