{"id":34984,"date":"2026-05-29T14:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/italy-u21-national-team-forward-volpato-changes-nationality-to-australia-ahead-of-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:19:26","slug":"italy-u21-national-team-forward-volpato-changes-nationality-to-australia-ahead-of-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/italy-u21-national-team-forward-volpato-changes-nationality-to-australia-ahead-of-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy U21 national team forward Volpato changes nationality to Australia ahead of World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>SYDNEY (AP) &#8211; Italy Under-21 forward Cristian Volpato will switch international eligibility to Australia for the World Cup, four years after declining an invitation to play in the 2022 tournament.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Football Australia made the announcement on Friday.<\/span> Sydney-born Volpato was added to the Socceroos&#8217; training camp in Los Angeles before the squad was finalized by Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old Sassuolo player has never played a competitive game for Italy&#8217;s first team and is therefore eligible to transfer under FIFA regulations. <\/p>\n<p>The Australian football body announced that it had received a release letter from the Italian Football Federation. This is an important step for FIFA to approve the switch in national qualification status.<\/p>\n<p>Australia open the World Cup on June 13th against Turkey in Vancouver, six days later face the USA in Seattle, and conclude with Group D against Paraguay at San Francisco 49ers Stadium on June 25th. The top two teams in the standings will advance to the round of 32, with the third-place team also advancing.<\/p>\n<p>Volpato declined to play for Australia ahead of the 2022 World Cup while playing his football for Roma under manager Jose Mourinho.<\/p>\n<p>Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the third consecutive time.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP World Cup coverage: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-australia-volpato-italy-32b5ceb2b55493348a1b542669e496a7\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYDNEY (AP) &#8211; Italy Under-21 forward Cristian Volpato will switch international eligibility to Australia for the World Cup, four years after declining an invitation to play in the 2022 tournament. Football Australia made the announcement on Friday. Sydney-born Volpato was added to the Socceroos&#8217; training camp in Los Angeles before the squad was finalized by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Italy U21 national team forward Volpato changes nationality to Australia ahead of World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/italy-u21-national-team-forward-volpato-changes-nationality-to-australia-ahead-of-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Italy U21 national team forward Volpato changes nationality to Australia ahead of World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SYDNEY (AP) &#8211; Italy Under-21 forward Cristian Volpato will switch international eligibility to Australia for the World Cup, four years after declining an invitation to play in the 2022 tournament. 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