There are exactly 59 days left until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and it remains unknown what will happen to the Iranian team if it will finally participate or not.
The Iranian nation is currently immersed in a political conflict with the United States and since then several options have been formulated for the team to play in the tournament. However, all variants have been ruled out, the last by FIFA.
According to the site Ole, FIFA would have formally denied Iran’s request to move the matches to Mexicothis to avoid a major conflict with the United States, after months ago President Donald Trump had not guaranteed the security of the Iranian team on American territory during the World Cup.
“The Iranian national soccer team is welcome to the World Cup, but I really don’t think it is appropriate for them to be there, for their own safety,” the American president wrote on his social networks.
After these events, weeks ago the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, mentioned in a press conference that she would welcome the Iranian team if they finally managed to convince FIFA to change the venue of their matches. In the end, this other option was also discarded.
This request by Iran was confirmed days ago by the sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali. “Our request to FIFA for Iran’s matches to be moved from the United States to Mexico is still valid, but we have not yet received a response. If accepted, Iran’s participation in the World Cup will be assured. However, FIFA has not yet responded,” Donyamali said at the time.
This change also represents a serious logistical risk for FIFA, as well as for some of the other teams, especially those that share the group G with Iran, that is, New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt.
According to the newspaper BrandSheinbaum would have confirmed this fact that a change in logistics could compromise the tournament. “FIFA decided that the matches could not be changed from the original venues, that would generate different logistics.”
On the other hand, from Europe, different media began to speculate some scenarios in which this conflict could be resolved. It was suggested that there could be a possible playoff between Asian and European teams, including Italy, but this was quickly ruled out since this scenario is totally unlikely. In addition to this, there are no FIFA windows for these duels until the 2026 World Cup.
It should be remembered that days ago, during the friendly match between Costa Rica and Iran in Turkey, Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, was present at that match and mediated with the players, coaches and management of the Iranian team to find a solution that benefits all parties.
It was later confirmed that FIFA plans to continue with its scenario A, which is to play all the matches with the qualified teams in their corresponding venues as indicated in the draw on December 5.
Iran will have to play in the cities of Los Angeles and Seattle during the World Cup.
