FIFA does not consider the option of replacing the national team Iran with Italy at the 2026 World Cup, which will be relegated to New America. The BBC reports this from emails sent to the organization.

Previously, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for global partnership, Italian Paolo Zampolli, propagated the idea of \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200breplacing Iran with Italy due to the tense situation with the war in the Near Descent.

However, FIFA did not support this initiative. President of the organization Gianni Infantino said last year that the Iranian team would “definitely come” to the tournament.

Iran has already qualified for the World Cup and may play group stage matches in the USA against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt. The tournament starts on the 11th of June and will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

At the same time, Italy, which is a four-time champion of the world, could not qualify for the World Cup, losing the playoff selection to the team of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to FIFA regulations, the organization has the right to independently praise decisions to replace tournament participants in cases of force majeure. However, there are no inevitable changes of mind for such a scenario.