Source :- THE AGE NEWS
San Francisco: There were many times when the Socceroos could have – some would say even should have – given up on Cristian Volpato.
For whatever reason, Paul Okon snr never did. Based on the early evidence, Australia owes him one for his dogged persistence. It may yet be the key to their World Cup ambitions.
Okon led the mission to convince Volpato to switch his allegiance from Italy to Australia, setting up the most dramatic World Cup selection move in Socceroos history with his last-minute inclusion into Tony Popovic’s squad – a twist that only those directly involved knew was coming.
From the moment he joined Popovic’s coaching staff nearly two years ago, Okon – a fluent Italian speaker who lives in Europe – has been the main conduit between the Socceroos and the 22-year-old winger, the subject of a high-profile and long-running pursuit by Australian soccer authorities which predated their appointments.
“He’s a good boy,” Okon says.
Four years ago, on the day Graham Arnold named his squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he phoned Volpato three separate times to try and get him over the line. He said no, choosing to focus on his club career rather than making what risked being an “extremely premature” decision on his international future.
Born and raised in Sydney to second-generation Italian parents, Volpato moved to his family’s homeland in January 2020 after being cut by the academies of Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers. Almost two years later, Volpato suddenly resurfaced at an unimaginably high level: at 18, he made his debut in Serie A for AS Roma, one of Italy’s biggest clubs.
It was a notable feat for any Australian player, let alone one so young. Back home, people familiar with Volpato were shocked – not just at where he’d gotten to in the game, but how much he’d grown physically, having shot up by 30 centimetres in height during his time away.
What’s more, Volpato’s coach at AS Roma was Jose Mourinho, and his agent was the club’s greatest-ever player, Francesco Totti, whose famous No.10 jersey he wore for them at youth level. Almost immediately, there were calls for him to be brought into the Socceroos set-up – but he was already on Italy’s radar, and would go on to represent them at junior level.
In the ensuing years, whenever Volpato was asked about who he would like to play for at senior level, he was always non-committal, if not leaning towards Italy – despite being spotted wearing an Australian jersey at a live site in Sydney during the 2022 World Cup.
But the latest push really began in January 2026, when Popovic’s staff gathered in Australia to go through World Cup preparations, and the topic of Volpato was raised.
Okon, who was in regular touch with him throughout, hadn’t spoken to Volpato for a couple of months. When he returned to his home in Belgium, he made contact with him again.
“I sensed that there was something there,” he said. “That feeling that I got, I passed on.”
Popovic reacted by setting up a trip for him and Okon to visit Volpato at his club, Sassuolo, which bought him off Roma in 2023 for nearly $15 million – the third-highest fee exchanged for an Australian player. They went to watch Sassuolo play a home match against Hellas Verona on February 20, which they lost 3-0; Volpato was an unused substitute, but local media caught wind of Popovic and Okon’s presence in the stands.
“We organised to meet Christian, his mother and his father. We ate with them,” Okon says.
“The following morning we met Christian for coffee. We walked away and we thought our opportunity was bigger, but we still didn’t think we’d got to that point where he would decide to choose to play for Australia.”
A few weeks later, Volpato spoke to Italian reporters and delivered what seemed to be the killer blow to any prospect of representing the Socceroos.
“They’ve been wanting to call me to Australia for a few years,” he said.
“But I grew up watching the Azzurri, even the coach [Gennaro Gattuso], and I’m waiting for Italy, then we’ll see how the rest goes.”
Anger erupted back home at the way Volpato had so publicly relegated Australia to his second choice. Fans and pundits said a line should have been immediately put through his name.
Even Okon thought he was a lost cause – but he also had sympathy with the position he was in.
One of his own sons, Gianluca, 17, is the subject of feverish debate about his national loyalty, a highly sensitive and personal topic. There are powerful forces at play seeking to sway young Australians based in Europe away from the green and gold, and those unfamiliar with them wouldn’t understand how much pressure Volpato was under, Okon said.
“It really is not an easy decision. I know it. I live it,” he said.
“I live in Europe. Why would you choose Australia when it would be more beneficial for your career, you don’t have to travel, you’ll have a higher transfer value than if you play for Australia? You’re playing in that country, the club is pushing you to play for Italy. They don’t want you to play for Australia. You’ve got a contract with the club.
“It’s not as simple as, ‘I feel Australian and I want to play for Australia, don’t worry about what you’re telling me.’ We also believed that at some point, you have to feel something for the shirt that you’re going to wear – so we always felt that we still had the chance.”
Okon still believed. When Australia submitted its provisional list of 55 players to FIFA by May 11 – from which their final 26-man World Cup squad had to be selected from – Volpato was on it, just in case.
I think he’s had some influence in his life, which maybe didn’t help him out for the best. But hey … everyone’s got a different path.Alessandro Circati on Cristian Volpato
Some time after that, Okon received notification that a decision had been reached.
“I spoke to his mother and she said to me, ‘Cristian wants to come,’” he said.
The timeline remains a little fuzzy; Okon would only say that the green light from Volpato’s camp came “late enough for us to then have to get his papers,” which he obtained in a stopover in Sydney between leaving Italy and arriving in Los Angeles for the Socceroos’ pre-World Cup training, the day before Popovic’s squad was to be named.
There has been speculation that Volpato decided to switch to Australia after being left out of Italy’s latest squad, the first one since their third successive World Cup qualification disaster in March. It was picked with an eye to the future, and features only one player, Gianluigi Donnarumma, who is older than 22; Volpato’s absence from it suggested that he was not part of the Azzurri’s short or medium-term plans.
That Italian squad was named on May 26; Volpato’s change of association was officially ratified three days later. But according to FIFA’s eligibility rules, any player who seeks an official change of registration to another country has to be submitted at least 15 days before the start of the international window they will be involved with.
For the World Cup, that was May 25 – so if Italy’s snub was the reason Volpato flipped, then he had to have been aware of it more than two weeks earlier, which seems unlikely.
Volpato’s integration has been assisted by the presence in the Socceroos of a long-time friend and former teammate for Italy’s under-20s, defender Alessandro Circati, who knows what it’s like to be in his shoes. Circati was born in Italy but grew up in Perth; his father, Gianfranco, briefly played in the old National Soccer League for Perth Glory, and moved back there after retirement.
As others panicked about which way Volpato would go, Circati worked on him in the background, careful not to put undue pressure on him.
He reckons people who don’t actually know Volpato tend to have the wrong impression of him, probably based on his diamond earrings and penchant for designer clothing labels.
“I do think that he’s not made out to be the villain, but made out to be worse than what he is,” Circati said.
“If you actually get to know him and actually have a sit down with him, he’s a normal guy, just like me, just like the rest of the boys. I think he’s had some influence in his life, which maybe didn’t help him out for the best – but hey, it’s part of everyone’s life. Everyone’s got a different path.”
His inclusion was highly controversial. Volpato’s critics see him as opportunistic, and believe he once carried genuine resentment towards Australian soccer and the national team because of his negative experiences with A-League academies. Some still hold against him a Snapchat story which appeared to mock the Socceroos, posted on the night their 40-year unbeaten streak in live World Cup qualifiers at home was broken by Japan.
But the way he passionately celebrated Australia’s 2-0 win over Turkey, which he did not play in, and the way he spoke after his full debut off the bench against the United States, in which he completed more dribbles (five) than any other Socceroo had in a World Cup game, suggest that he has indeed followed his heart.
“It was a dream come true,” Volpato said in the mixed zone following the 2-0 defeat in Seattle, in which he mounted a compelling case for a start against Paraguay on Friday (12pm AEST).
“Even in the first game when we were singing the national anthem, I was getting goosebumps. Walking out today, I was tearing up. It was amazing. I’m a hard believer in everything happens for a reason.”
Volpato was effectively chosen in Australia’s squad over Martin Boyle, a popular player who is ironically his inverse: Boyle was born and raised in Scotland, but was eligible to play for the Socceroos because his father was born in Sydney.
Coming in for such a dressing-room favourite, so close to the start of the World Cup, made for a difficult initiation for Volpato.
“It’s a little bit uncomfortable for him, because it’s so late,” Okon said.
“And then of course, ‘How does everyone perceive me? Because up until now, I’d said that my dream was to play for Italy.’ Albeit that was said when he was a young kid. But he’s bought into what we do, the way we work. We’ve seen his quality, what he’s capable of. The challenge for Cristian is, how long he can do that in a game, how effective he can be, how decisive.”
Okon insists the Socceroos never strayed from Popovic’s mantra on dual national players – that the shirt should never be “sold” to a player. There’s a fine line between persuading and inducing someone to do something, and he says they never crossed it: no promises were made, and will never be made to any other player weighing up their choices, not as long as Popovic is in charge.
“The conversation was always open, and every time I spoke to him, it was, ‘How you doing? Do you need anything? Do you want to talk about anything? Any advice?’” Okon said.
“Ultimately, we wanted to get to the part where he’s here, today. We wanted it sooner. Sometimes it doesn’t always go how you want it to. In the end, he made the decision, based on whatever he felt, to align with us.
“I do understand that people at home think he’s chosen only Australia now because Italy hasn’t gone to the World Cup. He’s not here because of that. He’s not. He’s here because he realised that maybe he should have come earlier.”
