The possibility of Iran's unexpected withdrawal from the World Cup reopens an unexpected scenario for the tournament's composition, but the possibilities of Italy's repechage remain exceedingly slim at this time. The dilemma originates from Tehran's position: the Iranian government has vowed not to allow its national team to compete in the World Cup if the Group B matches, which are scheduled in the United States in cities such as Los Angeles and Seattle, are not moved to Mexico. In the midst of high political tensions with Washington, the Iranian authorities claim that the request is motivated by security. FIFA, which organizes the competition, has yet to accept the request to move the matches. This leaves open the chance - still speculative - that Iran will decide to withdraw permanently, leaving a "vacancy spot" in the World Cup draw. And this is where the possibility of repechage comes into play, which is especially crucial for Italian supporters. A possible repechage would therefore represent an extraordinary access, decided directly by FIFA. However, the regulations do not allow for automatism based on worldwide rankings. According to Article 6.7 of the FIFA Regulations, if a qualifying team withdraws, the organization has sole authority in making a substitution. In practice, however, this judgment is guided by consolidated criteria: there is a tendency to prefer teams from the same geographical area (in this case, Asia) or those participated in the same qualification procedure. As a result, the United Arab Emirates would be the strongest candidate, having competed in the Asian qualifiers and being a "coherent" substitute from a sports and organizational standpoint. Italy's FIFA ranking, albeit high, is not a determining factor.