Cristian Volpato Returns to Australian Football as a Socceroo

Cristian Volpato didn’t just change teams. He came home.

The 22-year-old Sassuolo attacker is finally a Socceroo, days after one of the most closely watched eligibility sagas in Australian football swung decisively back to the country of his birth. His first cap should come against Switzerland at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Saturday (5am Sunday AEST), a low-key friendly wrapped around a high-stakes personal story.

For two years, Volpato had been the one that got away.

As a teenager at Roma, he turned down Graham Arnold’s offer to join Australia’s 2022 World Cup squad. He chose Italy’s youth pathway instead, eyes fixed on a senior Azzurri call-up. Every camp, every appearance in blue, seemed to push him further from the green and gold.

Now, on the eve of another World Cup, the pull has reversed.

“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. Australia will. The stage he once declined is suddenly the one he craved.

He spoke with a clarity that only comes after months of turmoil.

“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.’”

The choice has stalked him for years. Born in Australia, shaped in Italy, Volpato has lived inside a tug-of-war most players never face.

“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.”

The conversations behind the scenes were just as important as the passport.

Tony Popovic, now steering the Socceroos, made his position clear: he wanted Volpato, but he would not beg. The playmaker also leaned heavily on close friend Alessandro Circati, already a committed Socceroo and a constant voice in his ear.

Sassuolo and Circati’s Parma met on the final day of the Serie A season. The chat between the two Australians that day carried more weight than any league points.

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

Once the decision landed, the football had to catch up with the emotion.

Volpato joined camp too late to feature against Mexico, but Popovic confirmed on Friday that the attacker is “fit and available” to face Switzerland and is expected to see minutes. The coach noted that the youngster arrived a step behind in conditioning but now looks sharper than at any point since linking up with the squad.

Inside the group, any potential friction around his late switch has been publicly shrugged off. Midfielder Connor Metcalfe brushed away a question about whether Volpato’s change of allegiance had caused issues, leaving the focus on the football and the looming World Cup.

Volpato, for his part, knows exactly what kind of noise surrounds him — and his new team.

“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.”

He is not the only fresh face ready to step into the spotlight. Striker Tete Yengi could also debut against Switzerland, another attacking option thrown into Australia’s final friendly before the tournament begins.

This is not just another warm-up match. The conditions in San Diego are tailored to what awaits. A midday kick-off, a quick exit from the city afterwards — a rehearsal for 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.

Switzerland provide the kind of stern, well-drilled European test Australia craves before its June 13 opener against Turkey in Vancouver. For Popovic, it is a chance to fine-tune structure and selections. For Volpato, it is something else entirely.

It is the first time he will pull on the shirt he once declined, the first time he will hear the anthem from the other side of the divide he has straddled for so long.

The debate about where he belongs is over. The real question now is simpler, and far more compelling: how much can he change Australia’s ceiling at this World Cup?