It is funny cause the Saudis hate them. Qatar would be more likely but less funny haha and more funny I can see that crazy crap happening cause FIFA is FIFA.
Apparently China in 2002 requested that they play their group games in South Korea and this was accepted by FIFA. Of course that WC was organized around an equal co-hosting arrangement as opposed to this weird "USA and friends" arrangement that we have for 2026, but I suppose they could still switch some venues around so that maybe 1 or 2 groups are played entirely in Mexico.
It affects the ability of Iran to have supporters at their games if those supporters are banned from entry into the US - which they currently are. It would be perfectly reasonable of Iran to ask that their group games be played in either Canada or, more likely, Mexico.
As always, Iran will be one of the best supported teams at the World Cup and (as always) those fans will come from the US, Canada, and Europe (not Iran). The ban also doesn’t affect existing visa/permit holders. And regular (e.g. non-wealthy or powerful) Iranians have been effectively banned from getting tourist visas for decades. If someone didn’t have a visa at this point, they likely weren’t getting one anyway. The number of Iran fans traveling from Iran was always going to be negligible, due to cost and visa difficulties. This was known when the US bid was awarded the World Cup in 2018, so why are we only bringing it up now?
Because there is now a blanket ban on people from Iran whereas there wasn't when the World Cup was awarded to the US. It's a fair point that many Iranian fans will be resident elsewhere though.
The Fifth Round of AFC qualifying is being held in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Can anyone think of a reason Iran may not be welcome in Qatar?
Isn't that a picture from Tehran? That dude has an Iranian flag in his hands...not a Qatari one. The Iranian games will be well attended regardless of where they are held, as there is a large Iranian diaspora, they love their team and travel well. They are great fans, and I highly recommend hanging out with them if you happen to go to any of their games. Luckily I got to do this at the last three world cups, as I happened to land tickets to Bosnia-Herzegovina v Iran in 2014, Spain v Iran in 2018, and US v Iran in 2022.
Iran vs. Bosnia was the game with most unsold tickets in 2014, followed by Greece vs. Ivory Cost that happened to be one of the best games in the whole tournament. can't recall any significant number of iranian or bosnian fans there, couple of hundred at best but I may be wrong
Robbie Williams was a big musical influence in my life for years and I did not even know it until a few years ago. He sang the opening song in the FIFA 2000 video game.
The highest attended match at Stadium Fonte Nova in Salvador during the 2014 WC was 51,227 for US v Belgium during the round of 16. The Bosnia v Iran match had an attendance of 48,011 for a group stage match. Not exactly a big difference. I attended both matches and I couldn't tell the difference visually. Spain v Netherlands in the group stage only had 48,173...a rematch of the 2010 final exceeded Bosnia v Iran by 162 attendees. As for Iranian and Bosnian fan attendance I couldn't tell you the exact numbers, but visually it looked like there were many more Iranian supporters in the crowd. The bulk of the crowd were Brazilians of course.
Just to be accurate, the US ban against Iranians effectively bans players' relatives: no *degrees* of family nexus circumvents their US entry ban. Iranian visitors must prove they will perform FIFA-related activities in order to be granted a US visa in 2026.
You just seem to always emphasize posts about negative opinions, outsiders views that are controversial and tabloid type of posts. It is getting a bit annoying, yet funny at the same time.
Man, people should really leave Morocco 2030 alone. FIFA will need to get used to its sandstorms. Seriously though @Felix Herve Caroll , please remember we are prohibited from criticizing anything US-related for 2026 WC. Our friend @HomietheClown already set us straight in that aspect: dump click-bait and misinformation about USA's WC partners instead. Cheers. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/fifa-world-cup-26-news-analysis.2084612/page-112#post-42131332
First of all I have posted things that are backed up by other sources. Second of all for every negative post I have posted about Canada and Mexico I have posted positive posts about them. Informative posts about things people can do in those Nations during their visits. Nice try though but apples and oranges argument as you usually do in these types of threads.
Not much can be done about the climate or politics. But the in-stadium security is something FIFA needs to address. The NFL stadium security forces and US police have *no clue* (to put it lightly) how to properly handle a true soccer crowd in and outside of the stadium, like the supporters sections we’ve seen behind the goals for the Brazilian and North African teams at the Club World Cup. There’s going to be endless conflict and needless stadium ejections and arrests. And to be clear, the answer is usually not “they should enforce all local laws and stadium rules and regulations exactly as written”. But that’s the only way they know how to police a crowd in the US.