Cristian Volpato was a heartbroken, rejected teenager crying in his dad’s car when he turned his back on Australian football and set his sights on Italy.
Then after years of wrestling with his allegiances, the 22-year-old’s heart called him back.
Volpato was the shock inclusion in Tony Popovic’s Socceroos squad on May 31 for this year’s World Cup after a last-minute defection from Italy to his country of birth.
It was the culmination of a journey that started when he was cut by Sydney FC, then Western Sydney’s academy at 16 before moving to Italy in 2020 and signing with Roma, where his rise began.
Volpato was asked on Monday, his first press conference since joining the Socceroos, whether he had held any animosity towards Australia and said: ‘Not really’.
Then, speaking ahead of Australia’s round-of-32 clash with Egypt on Friday (Saturday AEST), Volpato elaborated.
Socceroos Cristian Volpato (pictured) has relived the moment he was left crying in his family’s car just before he decided to leave Australia and play in Italy
The 22-year-old’s mother Claudia (pictured together) sold her shop so he could head overseas and realise his potential after being knocked back by two Aussie football academies
‘Growing up in Australia and playing for the two best academies in Sydney, I got told from both of them that basically I’m not good enough to play and I just felt like it was my time to just – I don’t know,’ he said.
‘I’ve always wanted to go to Italy as a kid so I think it came out perfectly, to be honest.
‘Because then straight after I just remember the car ride home with my dad, I was crying and he just said, “Don’t worry, we’ll go to Italy now and we’ll try it.”
‘My mum, she sold her shop, we leased our house, we left everything just to go for a trial. And thank God I made the trial and my life changed from there.
‘So I feel like I have to give a lot as well to Italy because they gave me a second opportunity and from there I also got picked for the Italian team first so I just accepted.’
As a teenager, fresh off breaking through at Roma under Jose Mourinho, then-Italy youth international Volpato famously knocked back Graham Arnold’s offer to join Australia’s 2022 World Cup squad.
As recently as March, Volpato, who has used social media criticism as ‘fuel’, declared he was ‘waiting for Italy’.
On Monday, Volpato said his focus back then had been getting minutes at club Sassuolo.
Volpato stunned Aussie football fans when he backflipped and decided to play for the country of his birth at the World Cup (pictured)
The midfielder/winger has been playing for Italian Serie A side Sassuolo since 2023 (pictured)
‘But then obviously I just one day woke up literally and I just talked to my family and said, “Mum, I want to play for Australia,”‘ he added.
Volpato’s call came after a May 24 game for Sassuolo against fellow ex-Italy youth international Alessandro Circati’s Parma.
‘Just before the (World Cup) team list came out basically, a couple of days before,’ Volpato said.
‘It was actually after the game against Parma, when we played against Circati, and it was just something clicked and my heart said ‘just go, I think you belong there’.
‘I didn’t want to come being 50-50. If I wanted to come, it’s because I wanted to come and because I felt it was right … It hasn’t been six months – it’s been four-and-a-half years.
‘It’s been a long time, but I’m grateful that I made my decision, and it came from me and it came from my heart.’
Italy didn’t qualify for the World Cup, then in late May, picked a June squad full of young talent – and Volpato wasn’t in it.
When asked if that was a factor in his call, Volpato said: ‘Kind of yes and no.
‘Because for me it was just like ‘I want to play for Australia.’
‘Because Italy could have called me to the World Cup … but I just chose I wanted to play for Australia.
‘I felt like it was right. I felt like I could be myself and I can show myself here more.’
