Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a Passover gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
Fast Forward

‘Jewish’ Italian Soccer Star Mario Balotelli Wants Kiss From Queen Elizabeth

Italy soccer star Mario Balotelli may have put the kiss of death on England with his winning goal at their World Cup opener, but now he wants royal recompense if he becomes their savior.

England’s second loss in Group D, to Uruguay on Thursday, left them on the brink of elimination.

But there is a glimmer of hope for Roy Hodgson’s men if Italy beat Costa Rica on Friday.

If Italy were to then defeat Uruguay, and England were to also beat Costa Rica, in the final group games on Tuesday, Wayne Rooney and co may slip through on goal difference.

“If we beat Costa Rica I want a kiss, obviously on the cheek, from the UK Queen,” the ever-cheeky Balotelli, 23, Tweeted after England’s defeat in Sao Paulo.

Balotelli’s adopted Italian mother is Jewish.

Well known to the English from his days – and antics – at Manchester City, it was Balotelli’s cool header that gave Italy a 2-1 win over them in Manaus.

While Princes William and Harry are known football-lovers and would no doubt love to meet the maverick Italian, Queen Elizabeth is more passionate about horse-racing and may not be over-enthused at the prospect of giving him a peck.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.