Hosts Canada offer heartbroken Italians jersey swap for World Cup

Swap the Azzurri kit and slip into something maple-flavoured: the Canadian Soccer Association spent Saturday tempting Toronto’s Italian diaspora to trade blue for red and rally behind the home team at the 2026 World Cup.

Italy suffered the agony of missing out on a third straight World Cup this week after losing to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in a play-off.

Had they qualified, the four-time world champions would have been in Group B along with Canada, Qatar and Switzerland. Canada are co-hosting the tournament with the United States and Mexico.

For several hours on Saturday, fans lined up outside a coffee shop in Toronto’s “Little Italy” neighbourhood to exchange their blue or white jerseys. They left with Canada’s new red home shirt but were still allowed to keep their original Italy tops.

“Soccer in Canada has been built by generations of players, fans, and communities including Italian-Canadians who have helped bring the passion for our game to life,” said Canada Soccer chief communications officer Paulo Senra.

“We want every Canadian — no matter their historic allegiances — to join the momentum around our men’s national team, because this time, it’s Canada.”

Some 1.5 million people of Italian origin are living in Canada, representing 4.3 percent of the population, according to the 2021 census, with more than 80 percent in Ontario and Quebec.

AFP