BERGAMO, ITALY – MARCH 26: Sandro Tonali of Italy celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Italy and Northern Ireland at Stadio di Bergamo on March 26, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Italy have been accused by Bosnian media of sending a ‘spy’ to watch a training session of their World Cup play-off Final opponents, but the man was an Italian soldier stationed in the country as part of a European Union mission.
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Man filmed Bosnia training session before World Cup play-off Italy and Bosnia meet in the World Cup play-off Final in Zenica tonight.
On the eve of the game, local authorities stopped and identified a man who had been filming the Bosnia and Herzegovina training session beyond the first 15 minutes open to the media.
As reported by Gazzetta, some Bosnian media outlets thought the man was a ‘spy’ sent by the Italian federation to watch their opponent’s training session, but the reality is quite different.
The intruder, in fact, is an Italian soldier stationed in Bosnia as part of EUFOR, a mission coordinated by the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Italian football federation knew nothing about his presence at the Bosnia training ground, and local authorities found out through checks that the soldier had happened to be in Butmir by chance and had filmed the national team’s training session out of curiosity.
BERGAMO, ITALY – MARCH 26: Fans of Italy show their support by holding up scarves in the stands prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Italy and Northern Ireland at Stadio di Bergamo on March 26, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) According to Gazzetta, Bosnia even sent a formal complaint to EUFOR, which, however, confirmed that the Italian Football Federation had no involvement in the incident.
Pripadnik italijanskog kontingenta @euforbih jučer je ilegalno snimao trening fudbalske reprezentacije BiH, objavio je https://t.co/ISTxOvzAaq
Isti portal navodi da je Nogmetni savez BiH uputio protestnu notu EUFOR-u pic.twitter.com/3ZyEgqaSkj
— Istraga.ba (@IstragaB) March 30, 2026
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