Cristian Volpato Embraces Australian Identity Ahead of World Cup
Cristian Volpato didn’t just change teams. He came home.
The 22-year-old Sassuolo attacker is poised to pull on the green and gold for the first time against Switzerland at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Saturday (5am Sunday AEST), ending one of Australian football’s longest-running tug-of-war stories.
For years, Volpato sat between two worlds. Born in Australia, sharpened in Italy, courted by both. He played for Italy’s youth teams, spoke openly about waiting for a senior Azzurri call-up and famously turned down Graham Arnold’s invitation to join the Socceroos at the 2022 World Cup while he was still at Roma.
Now, on the eve of another World Cup, the decision has finally landed.
“Obviously, playing in a World Cup for your nation is something unreal,” Volpato said in a video interview released by Football Australia. Italy won’t be there this time. Australia will. That reality, he hinted, changed everything.
Back then, as an 18-year-old in Rome, he chose to stay put.
“Playing for Italy also was good and amazing,” he said. “But 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.
“Something — I don’t know — in my heart just said, ‘I think it’s time to come home.’”
Those words will land heavily in Australia, where his initial rejection in 2022 stung. It wasn’t just about talent. It was about identity, about a country that has long fought to keep its dual-national stars.
This time, the conversation was different. Tony Popovic, now steering the Socceroos, made it clear he wouldn’t plead.
Volpato spent long hours talking with Popovic and close friend Alessandro Circati, another Italian-based Australian who had already committed to the Socceroos. The pair faced off on the final day of the Serie A season when Sassuolo met Circati’s Parma. The debate continued off the pitch.
“He [Circati] was trying to convince me, and I was like, alright, I’m gonna come, I’m gonna come,” Volpato said.
It wasn’t a simple flip of allegiance. It was a wrestle.
“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.
“But it’s been hard and, obviously, I do feel Australian, so it felt really good coming in, being brought in by the boys, and speaking English — Aussie.”
Now he’s in camp, fit, and, according to Popovic, finally up to speed.
The coach confirmed on Friday that Volpato is “fit and available” to face Switzerland and expects the playmaker to get minutes after arriving too late to feature against Mexico. Popovic noted the attacker had needed time to catch up physically but is now looking his sharpest since joining the squad.
Inside the group, any suggestion of unease around his late switch was quickly brushed aside. Midfielder Connor Metcalfe deflected a question about whether Volpato’s decision had caused issues within the squad, a clear sign the players prefer to let the football do the talking.
Volpato, for his part, knows the outside noise. He also knows what’s at stake.
“Obviously people are writing us off a lot because we’re Australia, 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,” he said.
That belief will be tested immediately.
Switzerland present a stern European examination in Australia’s final friendly before the World Cup. The match has been set up as a dress rehearsal: a midday kick-off, heat, and a quick exit from the city afterwards — conditions designed to mirror the Socceroos’ second group game against the United States on June 19 (June 20 AEST).
“A good dress rehearsal, good last hit-out for players to get minutes in before the big dance in front of us,” Popovic told AAP.
It won’t just be Volpato under the microscope. Striker Tete Yengi is also in line for a debut, adding another fresh edge to a squad trying to evolve while staying competitive on the world stage.
Switzerland offer exactly the kind of challenge Popovic wants before Australia open their campaign against Turkey on June 13 in Vancouver. A hardened, European opponent, tactically disciplined, physically demanding. The sort of side that exposes any cracks — or confirms a team’s readiness.
For Volpato, this is more than a friendly. It’s the first chapter of a new identity, written in green and gold rather than blue. He once turned away from a World Cup call. Now he’s chasing one, with Australia, on his own terms.
The question now is not where his heart lies. It’s how far he can take the nation he has finally chosen to call home.
