The United States is not seeking to exclude Iran from this summer’s World Cup, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, after a U.S. official raised the possibility of drafting Italy, which did not qualify for the tournament.
“The problem with Iran is not its athletes. It would be some of the other people they want to bring with them,” the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, told reporters.
If the Iranian players “decide not to come on their own initiative, it is because they decided not to come,” he continued. What they can’t do is bring in a whole bunch of terrorists from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (Iran’s ideological army, editor’s note) by pretending that they are journalists and physical trainers.
“I don’t know where it comes from, it’s speculation that Iran might decide not to come, and that Italy would take its place,” added the secretary of state.
“We do not want to penalize the players,” Mr. Trump also stressed. In mid-March, the American president, however, estimated that the Iranian selection would not be “safe” if they came to the United States.
Iran must play its three Group G matches in Los Angeles against New Zealand (June 16) and Belgium (June 21) then in Seattle against Egypt (June 27). Its base camp is believed to be located in Tucson, Arizona.
Offense
While the war in the Middle East casts doubt on Iranian participation 50 days before kick-off, Paolo Zampolli told the Financial Times that he had suggested the improbable scenario to Mr. Trump and to Gianni Infantino, head of Fifa, who recently assured that Iran would take part in the tournament organized jointly in the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
“I am Italian by birth and it would be a dream to see Squadra Azzurra in a tournament organized in the United States. With four titles, she has the pedigree to justify her inclusion,” declared this adviser to the president.
In 2022, after the previous failure of the Azzurri at the same stage, he had already suggested – without success – to Fifa to disqualify Iran due to the violence of its police repression, to draft Italy at the World Cup in Qatar.
However, Italian officials have ruled out this option.
“First, it’s not possible. Secondly, it would not be appropriate, we qualify on the field,” said the Italian Minister of Sports, Andrea Abodi, quoted by the Italian agencies Ansa and AGI.
The president of the Italian National Olympic Committee (Cuneo), Luciano Buonfiglio, assured that he would feel “offended” if Italy were drafted in this way. “You have to earn your place in the World Cup,” he explained, according to Italian agencies.
Fifa decides alone
The Squadra Azzurra will not participate in the World Cup for the third consecutive time after being eliminated by Bosnia-Herzegovina (1-1 ap 4 tab to 1) at the end of March.
Questioned by AFP, the world football body referred to the recent statements of Gianni Infantino, whose explicit connivance with Donald Trump has sparked criticism.
“Iran will be at the World Cup” and will play its first round matches in the United States as planned, he told AFP at the end of March.
“Iran must come, they represent their people, they have qualified, the players want to play,” he declared in mid-April during an economic conference in Washington, hoping that the Middle East would soon return to a “peaceful situation”.
At the start of the conflict triggered by the United States and Israel on February 28, Iran spoke of a “boycott” of the competition, before asking Fifa to move its matches to Mexico. The world body ruled out this option.
FIFA regulations give the organization the power to decide alone what action to take if a team were to withdraw from the tournament.
“Football belongs to the people, not to politicians. The attempt to exclude Iran from the World Cup only reveals the ‘moral bankruptcy’ of the United States, which even fears the presence of eleven young Iranians on the field,” the Iranian embassy in Rome wrote on Thursday on X.
