The Canadian Soccer Association urged Italian fans to swap their jerseys for Canadian ones after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Italy lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in the European play-off final for the 2026 World Cup finals last Tuesday, thus failing to reach the finals for the third time in a row.
The United States, Canada and Mexico will host the 2026 World Cup from June 11 to July 19, with 48 teams participating for the first time in the tournament's history.
Innovative Canadian invitation
The Canadian Football Association wrote on its Facebook page: “Dear Italian football fans, don’t wait another four years, swap your jerseys for Canada jerseys.”.
The Canadian federation invited Italian fans to gather outside Cafe Diplomatico, a popular restaurant in Toronto's Little Italy neighborhood, to exchange their national team jersey for a Canadian jersey.
According to the 2021 census, there are approximately 1.5 million Canadians of Italian descent, either full or partial, with nearly a third of them living in Toronto and its suburbs.
High demand for shirt exchanges
According to the British newspaper "The Sun," a video has gone viral on social media showing a queue of fans in the street waiting to exchange their kits, with a black van appearing next to the group of fans with a picture of the Canadian national team's uniform on its front, with the words: "We want your passion this time, wear red.".
At the front of the queue, fans were seen entering the building to collect a Canada jersey, with one fan being filmed handing a volunteer a blue jersey and then receiving a red one with the Canada logo on it.
But the volunteers did not actually collect Italian national team jerseys; the initiative was only aimed at distributing Canadian national team kits for free, according to the British newspaper.
