Norway, to the great surprise of everyone, has qualified for this summer’s World Cup without giving up a single point in Group I. Those who were unlucky enough to end up in the same group as Norway were Italy, Israel, Estonia and Moldova. Italy, who have not qualified since 2014, are out in the qualifying rounds.
Norway beat Italy 3 – 0 at home at Ullevål Stadion and away at San Siro 1 – 4 – total 7 – 1 to Norway. Luciano Spalletti was fired after the first game against Norway, while new national team manager Gennaro Gattuso was heavily criticized, but kept his job after the second.
“Who do you think FIFA would most like to have in the World Cup”?
Iran’s participation in the 2026 World Cup is questionable after Israel and the United States decided to bomb them back to the Stone Age. The war is actually putting the entire World Cup at risk, FIFA has decided in a meeting a few days ago that it will not be postponed or moved, but one thing is for sure, everything is uncertain.
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Former Manchester United assistant coach and current national team manager for Iraq Rene Meulensteen has revealed which nation can replace Iran in the 2026 World Cup. – The event will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Iran will face Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand, after being drawn in Group G.
But after the US and Israel’s attacks on the nation, Iran will not participate in the World Cup.
Iran’s Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali said: “Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, we cannot participate in the World Cup under any circumstances. Our children are not safe, and fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist.
Given the vicious acts they have carried out against Iran, they have forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people. Therefore, we definitely cannot have such a presence.”
Speaking on talkSPORT, Meulensteen claimed that FIFA could end up making the decision on who replaces Iran in the 48-nation field.
He said: “Throughout the AFC, we are the highest ranked team.
So we would then take Iran’s place. And then the United Arab Emirates can step in to replace us to play against the winner of Suriname and Bolivia.”
Meulensteen continued: “But there are also rumours that if FIFA makes the final decision, they could push for the highest-ranked FIFA team to replace Iran, which is Italy.
You can imagine, who would they rather have in the World Cup?”
After failing to qualify in 2018 and 2022, Italy last played in the 2014 World Cup.
The Azzurri face Northern Ireland in the UEFA play-offs. If they win, they will face either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place.
FIFA CEO Gianni Infantino stated that after meeting Donald Trump, Iran is welcome to play in the tournament.
Part of the statement read: “We also talked about the current situation in Iran, and the fact that the Iranian team has qualified to participate in the FIFA World Cup in 2026. During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is of course welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States.”
Well, we’ll see…
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