ITALY HAS DISMISSED a suggestion by an envoy to US president Donald Trump that the country should replace Iran at this year’s World Cup.

US special envoy Paolo Zampolli confirmed to the Financial Times yesterday that he had suggested to Trump and FIFA president Gianni 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 newspaper. 

The football tournament is being held in the US, Mexico and Canada from 11 June to 19 July. 

The idea was an effort to repair ties between Trump and Giorgia Meloni after the Italian prime minister fell out with the president after criticising his attack on Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war, the FT reported.

Paolo Zampolli. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Italy has won the World Cup four times, but it missed out on the tournament for a third successive time after losing a penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their qualifying playoff final in March.

Speaking to the Italian news agency LaPresse, the country’s sports minister Andrea Abodi said: “Firstly, it’s not possible. Secondly, it’s not appropriate… You qualify on the pitch.”

The agency also reported comments from Italian economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who said he had read about Zampolli’s suggestion. 

“I find it shameful. I would be ashamed,” he said. 

‘Moral bankruptcy’

The Iranian embassy to Rome has responded saying that Italy “has earned its greatness in football on the pitch, not thanks to political privileges”.

“The attempt to exclude Iran from the World Cup only reveals the ‘moral bankruptcy’ of the United States, which is afraid even of the presence of eleven young Iranians on the field of play,” the embassy said on X. 

FIFA president Gianni Infantino and US president Donald Trump during the draw for the 2026 World Cup in Washington in December. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Iran’s participation in the World Cup has been thrown into doubt by the US and Israel war on the country, that began on 28 February.

Earlier this month, the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) said it was “negotiating” with FIFA to relocate the country’s World Cup matches from the US to Mexico.

But speaking in March while attending a friendly match between Iran and Costa Rica, Gianni Infantino said that Iran will be at the World Cup and that they will play “where they are supposed to be, according to the draw”.

The FIFA chief reiterated that stance in Washington last week.

When contacted by AFP about Zampolli’s suggestion today, FIFA referred to Infantino’s recent comments.

In 2022, Zampolli made a similar suggestion, proposing to FIFA that Italy should replace Iran at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because of the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protesters at that time. His proposal fell on deaf ears.

Zampolli is an Italian-American socialite, businessman and founded a modelling agency, who claims to have introduced Trump to his current wife Melania Trump.