Despite Italian soccer's dream of making the World Cup finals, the domestic media still holds out a glimmer of hope. It is reported that Iran has angered FIFA by banning female fans from its last World Cup qualifier and is facing potentially harsh penalties, possibly even disqualification. In that case, Italy, which is ranked sixth in the world and failed to qualify, might be able to seize the opportunity.
Several Italian media outlets, such as Slow Mirror and Sky Sports, reported that 2,000 female fans were turned away from Iran's match against Lebanon in the World Cup. Pepper spray was even used at the venue to disperse the crowd. In fact, FIFA warned Iran about this ban back in 2019, but Iran continued to do what they were doing and are now eating their own.
Iranian officials also seem to realize the gravity of the situation, revealing on social media that there is disturbing news coming out of FIFA, and speculation is rife that the worst possible outcome could be Iran's disqualification from the tournament.
Italian media pointed out that if Iran is banned, Italy may get the opportunity to substitute. Since Italy is currently ranked sixth in the world, if there is a chance of replacement, theoretically it should be a team from the Asian region. But the report also emphasized that this is only one of the many possibilities.
