The name Cristian Volpato has been circulated in football sports news worldwide this past week, as the Australian teen who declined a call up to play for the Socceroos World Cup 2022 squad.
While the family now live in Sydney, Cristian’s Nonno, Sergio Volpato and Nonna, Lina Volpato owned an orchard at Thulimbah, their three sons - Oscar, Deni and Robbie - were all born in Stanthorpe. Cristian’s father, Oscar attended Thulimbah primary and Stanthorpe State High schools. The family sold the farm and moved to Sydney in 1978.
The love of football runs in the family - Sergio was a member of the first International Club Soccer team and played for many years with teammates including identities Livio Favero and Billy Theo, while Oscar played for Norths with his cousins, Milco and John Volpato.
Cristian was born in Sydney on November 15, 2003, and from four or five years old, started kicking the ball around with his Nonno Sergio and then started playing football in Abbotsford, where his talent for scoring goals was recognised.
He participated in AC Milan Soccer School, Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers academy.
Not gaining a contract with Australian clubs, he was forced to take another path at 15 years of age that led to him trialling in the AS Roma Youth Sector. After he was able to demonstrate his attacking abilities, the young footballer was noticed and signed his first professional contract with the club in 2021 in AS Roma Youth team, this has recently been renewedand extended until 2026.
At 18 years of age, Cristian has earned rave reviews - and more minutes - from legendary and successful coach Jose Mourinho and is managed and mentored by Italian legend Francesco Totti. He made his senior debut in Serie-A, Italian football league, in December 2021, scoring his first professional goal in a match against Hellas Verona in Feb 2022.
Cristian has represented Italy in the Under 19 2022 UEFA European Championship and has recently been called up to play for Italia U21 in a friendly game against Germany on the 19th Nov 2024 . He is eligible to represent both Italy and Australia internationally but rejected an offer from Graham Arnold after selection in the Socceroos to play for Australia in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar starting on November 20, 2024.
Explaining his decision, Cristian posted to his Instagram story "I have seen lots of speculation about decisions I have supposedly taken at international level: the truth is that I am still just at the start of my professional career and I am totally focused on continuing that process at Roma," the post said.
"Making any sort of rushed decision about my international future at this early stage risks being extremely premature.
"There will be plenty of time for me to take the decision that feels right for me, but right now I know my focus needs to be on continuing to work hard each and every day in order to continue improving as a player. For now, it's time to focus on the game against Sassuolo."
Cristian’s family are very proud of his football achievements, especially his Nonno Sergio, who at 88 enjoys watching every game and looks forward to seeing Cristian’s’ progress.
Rule changes unveiled by FIFA in 2020 effectively give Cristian, who turns 19 this week, two more years to debut for Italy and switch to Australia if his Azzurri career stalls.
At the end of 2022-2023 season, with Roma Cristian was sold to Sassuolo and in August 2023, went into camp for two weeks to bond with his new team mates.
Cristian enjoys the training and building on his strength and skills with his talents peeking interest from other clubs. The contract with Sassuolo ends in 2027-2028 season with an indication that management there wish to retain him for the duration of the contract.
Read More: Stanthorpe
