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A top envoy to President Donald Trump has asked Fifa to replace Iran with Italy in the upcoming World Cup, setting up high-stakes US sports diplomacy involving a spurned ally and a sworn enemy.
US special envoy Paolo Zampolli suggested the swap to Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Trump, as leader of the country co-hosting the tournament. He argued that Italy’s four World Cup titles justify awarding it the slot, according to people familiar with the matter.
The plan was an effort to repair ties between Trump and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after the two fell out amid the US president’s attacks against Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war, the people said.
But Iran issued a statement on Wednesday saying it is prepared for the tournament and plans to participate.
The move to seek to replace Iran with Italy comes after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup, which will be hosted in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Italy’s humiliating loss in a critical play-off match to tiny Bosnia and Herzegovina caused a domestic political outcry, forcing the chief of the Italian Football Federation to resign.
“I confirm I have suggested to Trump and Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup. I’m 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,” Zampolli told the FT.
Iran previously said in March it would not participate in the tournament following air strikes by the US and Israel that killed the nation’s leader and scores of other senior officials and citizens, citing safety concerns for its athletes travelling to America. The country’s football federation has also floated moving its games to Canada or Mexico, an idea that has been rejected by Fifa.
Trump has said that Iran’s footballers are “welcome” to come to the US, but also that it would be inappropriate and potentially dangerous for them.
Fifa declined to comment on the lobbying efforts but pointed to recent statements by Infantino. “The Iranian team is coming, for sure,” the Fifa president said at a conference in Washington last week. “We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful (one). That would definitely help. But Iran has to come if they are to represent their people. They have qualified . . . They really want to play, and they should play.”
A US state department spokesperson said: “The Trump administration is doing everything needed to support a successful World Cup while at the same time upholding US law and the highest standards of national security and public safety in the conduct of our visa process.”
Infantino, who is Swiss-Italian, also met the Iranian team ahead of a match in Turkey in late March and said afterwards that Fifa would “support the team to ensure the best possible conditions as they prepare for the World Cup”.
Iran reached the tournament as one of eight teams from the Asian Football Confederation, while Italy missed out on one of 16 European spots, the third consecutive World Cup for which it has failed to qualify. Italy is currently ranked 12th in the world by Fifa, the highest of any country that is not participating.
Fifa’s rule book gives the governing body “sole discretion” to decide what action to take if Iran were to withdraw. “Fifa may decide to replace the Participating Member Association in question with another association,” the rules state. Ahead of the Club World Cup last summer, Fifa used its discretionary powers to hand a spot at the tournament to Inter Miami, enabling global superstar Lionel Messi to play.
Meloni has been one of Trump’s closest European allies, refraining from criticising him even over some of his most provocative actions, including his threat to seize Greenland from Denmark by force and his air strikes in Iran.
But Trump publicly slammed Meloni last week, after she was forced to condemn his Truth Social attack on Pope Leo as “unacceptable” amid a wider public outcry in Italy over the president’s disrespect of the US-born Catholic spiritual leader.
In various media interviews in the following days, Trump complained about Rome’s refusal to allow US fighter planes involved in bombing Iran to utilise an American military base in Sicily for refuelling. Trump said he was “shocked” by Meloni’s lack of co-operation in the Iran campaign, saying, “I thought she had courage but I was wrong.”
Italians oppose the war, which is driving prices of fuel, fruit and vegetables and other goods higher. Many are suspicious and wary of Trump, and analysts say Meloni’s past efforts to placate and defend him were becoming a growing political problem at home.