{"id":32823,"date":"2026-04-23T11:38:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32823"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:38:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:38:42","slug":"us-envoy-calls-on-fifa-to-swap-iran-for-italy-in-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/us-envoy-calls-on-fifa-to-swap-iran-for-italy-in-2026-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"US envoy calls on FIFA to swap Iran for Italy in 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">An envoy\u00a0\u00a0of United States (US) President Donald Trump has reportedly asked International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to replace Iran with Italy in the upcoming World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">According to the Financial Times, the plan is said to be an effort to repair ties between Trump and Italy&#8217;s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after the two had a fall out over Trump&#8217;s criticism of Pope Leo XIV over the war in Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Iranian Government Spokesperson said the country&#8217;s institutions were fully prepared for their team&#8217;s participation in the soccer showpiece co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Italy failed to qualify for the tournament, losing a critical play-off to Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 31 and the US effort to replace Iran appears highly unlikely given Tehran&#8217;s willingness to participate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Iran said its Ministry of Youth and Sports had made all the necessary arrangements for the effective participation of the team in the World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Iran will play its group matches in Los Angeles and Seattle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">FT quoted envoy Paola Zampolli confirming that he suggested to President Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino that Italy\u00a0replace Iran at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">FIFA would have sole discretion on a replacement team were Iran to withdraw.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21350,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-32823","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"International Federation of Association Football","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32824,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32823\/revisions\/32824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}