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Italian Football Federation President Gabriele Gravina named the reason why Italy refused to submit a joint bid with Saudi Arabia and Egypt to host the 2030 World Cup.
It was reported in 2021 that the Middle Eastern nation wanted to combine a bid with Italy and another African country (Egypt or Morocco). However, according to Gravina, the Italian Football Federation declined due to the scandal surrounding the murder of Italian citizen and social scientist Giulio Regeni in Egypt.
Gravina said: “We have rejected the offers to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Saudi Arabia and Egypt. We are confident in our decision, but we realize that a joint bid could have been successful. We did it because of the international issues surrounding the Regeni case and also because some of our values do not align. We cannot always pretend that nothing happened.”
On February 3, 2016, the body of 28-year-old Regeni was found on a highway near Cairo with signs of prolonged torture. The Egyptian authorities suggested road accidents, criminal altercations, crimes of passion and so on, but Italy is sure that the Egyptian security services were involved in the death of the postgraduate student. The incident caused an aggravation of diplomatic relations between the two states.