{"id":2301,"date":"2026-06-01T06:34:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2301"},"modified":"2026-06-01T06:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:34:40","slug":"cristian-volpato-selected-in-australias-world-cup-squad-just-days-after-switch-of-allegiance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2301","title":{"rendered":"Cristian Volpato selected in Australia’s World Cup squad just days after switch of allegiance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Australia\u2019s Jason Geria, left, and Cristian Volpato, right, arrive with teammates ahead of the World Cup soccer tournament in San Francisco, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Minh Connors)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

BRISBANE, Australia \u2014 Cristian Volpato<\/a> was vaulted into Australia\u2019s World Cup<\/a> squad just days after confirming a switch of national eligibility from Italy, four years after declining an invitation to join the Socceroos ahead of the 2022 tournament.<\/p>

Read more Denny Hamlin storms back from a pole-start penalty to win at Nashville Superspeedway<\/a><\/p>\n

Coach Tony Popovic included the 22-year-old Volpato in the 26-man squad announced Monday. Volpato and striker Tete Yengi were among 17 players selected in a World Cup squad for the first time.<\/p>\n

Skipper Mat Ryan, with 104 international caps, and Mathew Leckie were picked for a fourth World Cup, equaling the Australian record held by Tim Cahill and Mark Milligan, and Popovic said the veteran pair \u201ccan lead the way and guide these young players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sydney-born Volpato played for Italy\u2019s Under-21 team but was eligible to make the switch to Australia under FIFA rules because he never played a competitive game for the senior Italy team. Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup<\/a> being co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n

Volpato only joined the Socceroos camp in Los Angeles on the weekend, too late to participate in the 1-0 World Cup warmup loss to Mexico<\/a> at Pasadena.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very talented player. A young player \u2014 he\u2019s doing well in Serie A,\u201d Popovic told a news conference after the squad announcement. \u201cTechnically a very good player, great left foot, comfortable under pressure. I\u2019m looking forward to working with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Popovic said it would be easy to say Australia\u2019s selection appeared to be one that looked toward the future but \u201cI think we should keep the expectation high now.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Brisbane begins work on the 2032 Olympics main stadium at Victoria Park after protesters moved<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have is a lot of young exuberance, a lot of exciting talent,\u201d he said. \u201cWill they be better in four and eight years? Without a doubt, but that\u2019s not to say they\u2019re not good enough now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them all to give me a (selection) headache every week, and I believe in these young boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia will play another warmup game on Saturday against Switzerland at San Diego to finetune for Group D<\/a> games against Turkey at Vancouver on June 13, the U.S. at Seattle six days later and Paraguay at Santa Clara on June 25.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Australia squad:<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Mat Ryan, Patrick Beach, Paul Izzo.<\/p>\n

Defenders: Aziz Behich, Jordan Bos, Cameron Burgess, Alessandro Circati, Milos Degenek, Jason Geria, Lucas Herrington, Jacob Italiano, Harry Souttar, Kai Trewin.<\/p>\n

Midfielders: Cameron Devlin, Jackson Irvine, Connor Metcalfe, Mathew Leckie, Paul Okon-Engstler, Aiden O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n

Forwards: Ajdin Hrustic, Nestory Irankunda, Awer Mabil, Mohamed Toure, Nishan Velupillay, Cristian Volpato, Tete Yengi.<\/p>

Read more The Nationals keep winning, and now they\u2019re celebrating accordingly<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cristian Volpato has been included in Australia\u2019s World Cup squad just days after switching his national eligibility from Italy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nCristian Volpato selected in Australia's World Cup squad just days after switch of allegiance - Moving Insider USA<\/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:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2301\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cristian Volpato selected in Australia's World Cup squad just days after switch of allegiance - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cristian Volpato has been included in Australia\u2019s World Cup squad just days after switching his national eligibility from Italy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2301\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T06:34:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bb937c7320b410f69de4531a8c13c284-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Cristian Volpato selected in Australia’s World Cup squad just days after switch of allegiance\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T06:34:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301\"},\"wordCount\":514,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b72d099eb580b71664919930720098ea-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301\",\"name\":\"Cristian Volpato selected in Australia's World Cup squad just days after switch of allegiance - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b72d099eb580b71664919930720098ea-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T06:34:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2301#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b72d099eb580b71664919930720098ea-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b72d099eb580b71664919930720098ea-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Australia's Jason Geria, left, and Cristian Volpato, right, arrive with teammates ahead of the World Cup soccer tournament in San Francisco, Sunday, May 31, 2026. 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