After the passport fiasco in the summer: top talent (18) chooses Switzerland

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The question of whether Tommaso De Luca will play for Switzerland or Italy has been looming for some time. Now the decision has been made: the 18-year-old Ambri attacker has opted for his native country and against Switzerland.

Actually, things should have turned out differently. De Luca originally wanted to participate in the U20 World Cup (December 26, 2023 to January 5, 2024) for Switzerland. However, he was missing his passport, which had yet to be issued. At first everything looked promising; he could have applied for the passport in August. But then there was miscommunication between his family and the relevant authorities. A new exhibition date would not be until March next year.

The Italians are happy that the Ambri talent has now chosen them. “Tommaso is certainly one of the best players of his 2004 class. That is why I am very happy that he chose Italy over Switzerland,” said Italian national coach Stefan Zisser (43) on “sportnews.bz”.

Less competition in Italy

They always tried to look after De Luca, but also respected that his original plan was to play for Switzerland. De Luca played four friendly matches each for the Swiss U19 and U20 teams.

But now the change. Zisser: “I think he understood that the story with the Swiss passport could be postponed even further and that the competition in Switzerland is greater than in Italy.” Nati director Lars Weibel (49) has already been informed, he confirmed to Blick.

De Luca has eleven scorer points (four goals) in 24 games for the Leventiners this season. However, the Swiss national team will have to do without his goal threat in the future. (ch)

Source : Blick