Fans react to US suggestion Iran replace Italy at FIFA World Cup
Fans of the Iranian and Italian football teams have expressed frustration with comments made by a Trump envoy suggesting that Italy should replace Iran at this year’s FIFA World Cup.
“No, our team has no reason to be treated like that at all. Our team played the matches it had to play, won, and qualified,” one Iranian team supporter said.
Some Italian supporters were equally disappointed by the suggestion, one saying: “(Italy) doesn’t deserve it, in my opinion, that’s all”.
Another commented, “We’re just poor losers”.
Italy missed out on a World Cup spot for the third time after losing to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their qualifying playoff final in March.
Paolo Zampolli, a Trump envoy with no official connection to the World Cup, suggested replacing Iran with Italy on Thursday. He made a similar suggestion in 2022 because of the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protesters at that time.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Washington has no objections to Iranian players taking part in this year’s FIFA World Cup.
“Nothing from the US has told them they can’t come,” Rubio told reporters overnight.
“The problem with Iran would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people they would want to bring with them, some of whom have ties to the IRGC. We may not be able to let them in, but not the athletes themselves”.
US President Donald Trump also said his administration “would not want to affect the athletes” in comments he made at the White House.
The 2026 World Cup is set to begin on 11 June across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
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