Cristian Volpato: From Italy to Australia Ahead of World Cup

Cristian Volpato leans into the camera, smiles, and says the words that will echo all the way back to Sydney suburbs and Roman training grounds alike.

“I think it’s time to come home.”

For years, Australian football watched him from afar — the boy from Camperdown who slipped through its fingers, put on the Azzurri blue, and seemed gone for good. Now, at 22, with a World Cup on the horizon and Italy watching from the outside, the Sassuolo attacker has finally chosen the green and gold.

On Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego (5am Sunday AEST), he is set to pull on a Socceroos shirt for the first time, in a friendly against Switzerland that suddenly feels much more than a simple tune‑up.

From “no” in 2022 to “home” in 2024

Volpato’s story with Australia has never been straightforward. As an 18‑year‑old at Roma, he turned down Graham Arnold’s offer to join the 2022 World Cup squad in Qatar. He wanted to wait. He wanted Italy. He wanted, as he admits now, the comfort of what he already knew.

“Playing for Italy also was good and amazing,” he said in a video interview released by Football Australia on Friday. “Maybe when I was 18, maybe I was a bit too young, and maybe I was a bit too scared to make the change straight away, so maybe I was in my comfort zone a bit, playing for Italy.”

The Italy youth international doubled down on that stance as recently as March, publicly saying he was waiting for a senior call‑up from the Azzurri. Then the World Cup picture sharpened. Australia qualified. Italy did not.

The decision that had been gnawing at him “24/7”, as he put it, could no longer be dodged.

“Obviously, playing in a World Cup for your nation is something unreal,” Volpato said. “Something — I don’t know — in my heart just said, ‘I think it’s time to come home.’”

Torn between two flags

Volpato doesn’t pretend this has been a simple flag swap. He grew up in Australia, forged his professional identity in Italy, and has carried both identities on his back.

“I’m Italian and I’m Australian, so it’s actually been a big decision that’s always been in my head 24/7 for quite a while,” he said. “It’s really hard because it’s like people want you to choose something, one or the other.”

He’s acutely aware of the noise around him: the frustration from those who felt snubbed in 2022, the excitement of those desperate for a creative spark, the questions about commitment that inevitably follow a dual national who changes course.

Inside camp, he insists, the welcome has been warm.

“Obviously, I do feel Australian, so it felt really good coming in, being brought in by the boys, and speaking English — Aussie.”

Popovic’s stance and a decisive conversation

Tony Popovic, now in charge of the national team, made it clear from the outset he would not plead.

He spoke at length with Volpato, but he set a line: he would not “beg” him to declare for Australia. The choice had to be the player’s, not a coach’s sales pitch.

A key figure in the background was Alessandro Circati, Volpato’s close friend and fellow Australian international, who plays for Parma. On the final day of the Serie A season, Sassuolo met Parma. The football stopped; the conversation didn’t.

“He [Circati] was trying to convince me, and I was like, alright, I’m gonna come, I’m gonna come,” Volpato recalled.

By the time he walked into Socceroos camp, the decision was made. The only question left was fitness.

Volpato arrived too late to feature against Mexico, and Popovic admitted the attacker’s conditioning lagged behind the rest of the squad. The coaching staff pushed him hard. By Friday, the tone had changed.

Popovic declared him “fit and available” to face Switzerland and said he expected the playmaker to get minutes, describing him as looking his best since joining camp.

Inside the dressing room

Any suggestion of tension inside the squad over Volpato’s late switch was quickly swatted away. Midfielder Connor Metcalfe brushed off a question about whether the change of allegiance had caused issues, a sign the group has little interest in relitigating his past.

Volpato, for his part, is focused on what comes next, not what might have been.

“Obviously people are writing us off a lot because we’re Australia,” he said. “But I believe in the group, I believe in the coach, I think we’ve got a really good team, so hopefully we can shock a lot of people.”

There is no promise of a starting spot, no guarantee of stardom. What he does have is a stage, a World Cup on the calendar, and a chance to redefine how Australian fans see him.

A dress rehearsal with real stakes

Switzerland in San Diego is officially just a friendly. On paper, it’s a “good dress rehearsal”, as Popovic called it, “a good last hit‑out for players to get minutes in before the big dance in front of us.”

In reality, it carries far more weight.

The midday kick‑off and quick turnaround out of the city are designed to mirror the Socceroos’ second group match against the United States on June 19 (June 20 AEST). The opponent, a strong European side, offers a final, sharp test before the June 13 opener against Turkey in Vancouver.

Striker Tete Yengi could also make his debut, adding another fresh face to a squad trying to blend experience with new energy just in time for the tournament.

But all eyes will drift back to the slight figure in the No.10 spaces, the one who once said no and has now said yes.

Cristian Volpato chose Australia with a World Cup looming and the world watching. The debate about his decision will rage on in living rooms and on social media, but soon it won’t be about paperwork or passports.

It will be about what he does when the whistle blows in San Diego — and whether “coming home” can change the course of Australia’s World Cup story.