What is the official word on Iran and the World Cup? I have seen news articles saying Iran has withdrawn from the World Cup and I have seen other articles saying that Iran has not withdrawn from the World Cup. The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran has not expressed plans to withdraw from the competition.
Still no final decision. Also, not many World Cups have been played during a World War, so I guess its TBC for the other 47 nations as well.
Good point, but I don’t know if this Iran conflict qualifies as a World War. The only World Cups cancelled/postponed by a World War (or anything else) were the 1942 and 1946 World Cups. It seems that every other World Cup was played with war(s) ongoing somewhere in the world.
Well, there are still 4 months for it to expand beyond "just" Western Asia, Arab States and Eastern European regions.
It’s been daily drama. I saw that FIFA confirmed today that Iran’s games will not be moved to Mexico. I also saw trump said he cannot guarantee Iran’s players safety in LA / Seattle. soccer has the power to stop wars! I hope it happens. This is not official, but I did see this as well: https://esosoccer.com/2026-world-cup/iran-out-of-world-cup/
Yeah, I really hope not. Imagine if this World Cup had been in Qatar? I wonder what FIFA would have done.
It appears FIFA will prohibit the Lion and Sun flag from Iranian games at the World Cup. Source behind a paywall. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7288376/2026/05/19/world-cup-fifa-iran-flag/
World Cup 2026: Mexico agrees to host Iran at World Cup - BBC Sport No overnight stay? Are Iran supposed to fly in on the day of the match?
I honestly feel really bad for them. Excluding geopolitics as much as even possible, these are extraordinarily terrible circumstances for the Iranian footballing team. They've got an easy group but compounding all the things going against them I'm not confident they'll get out of it.
Really should have put them in Vancouver twice (extremely ironic outcome based on the last time Iran had a match scheduled there).
You should know by now that MEX gov't officials barely know what they are talking about in relation to sport logistics. MEX President Sheinbaum kept saying to the press that the US gov't opposes to IRN players *pernoctating* within US territory. Of course, that would violate FWC26 tournament regulations: 18.3 Each team participating in the FIFA World Cup 26 shall choose a Team Base Camp from the Team Base Camp brochure, as per the official Team Base Camp selection policy, which shall be its main accommodation and training base until the knockout stages begin (i.e. round of 32). Each team shall travel from its Team Base Camp to the match venue one day before matchday (MD‑1) and in exceptional cases on MD‑2, and shall return to their Team Base Camp after the match (on MD/MD+1). FIFA pays for both base camps hotels and venue-specific hotels, which IRN will use prior to each match date. The US gov't will not give US visas to multiple non-player IRN staff, therefore IRN base camp is moving to Mexico. Opposing to *pernoctating* near a venue before a match would be a violation of tournament rules.
FIFA says it is working to restore ticket access for Iran fans after Iranian allocation is revoked: https://www.insideworldfootball.com...ran-fans-after-iranian-allocation-is-revoked/
'Repressed' Iran forced to leave U.S. after New Zealand draw: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49078938/iran-forced-leave-us-new-zealand-draw
Excellent match between Iran and New Zealand. I don't know anything about either team but I enjoyed seeing it. As for the U.S, forcing the Iranians to leave the US after the match: petty harasssment unworthy of any country.
Watch pathetic and patheticer (Infantino and Iran's coach Ghalenoie) talk nonsense: Infantino instead of addressing the issues telling the team to be strong to overcome them. And Ghalenoie instead of taking ownership of his incompetent coaching not being able to beat New Zealand making excuses about flights. If you watched the match Iran's players were running nonstop for 90 minutes. The having to take extra flights will impact things, but by the 2nd or 3rd game, it did not have a meaningful effect on the first game. Also he says that this was one of the most beautiful matches of the group stages. Yes, this is true, for the neutral observer, but abandoning defense altogether cost Iran qualification from the group.
The whole situation is totally farcical. Iran's matches should simply have been shuffled to Canada/Mexico and none of this would be necessary.
That would have been the easiest and best solution. They had plenty of time to change the schedule and locations to make it work as well. It is two-sided for Iran. It is not fair that they have to travel on the day of, but also, you have to think of their player safety. A lot of angry (best way to put it) Americans who can see the Iranian team as a target. Getting them out of the country right away is most likely the best option to keep everyone safe. Sadly, it comes to that, but again, FIFA could have moved its games to Canada or Mexico and avoided all of this.
It absolutely would not have been easy. All venues had their dates set and were locking in logistics more than a year before the draw. Swapping matches and dates in the last six months was not a viable plan. The only possibility would have been to administratively place them in South Korea's slot, the only one with no US group matches, but in that case they would still need a plan for potential advancement to knockouts.
Iran's Taremi criticises logistical issues, suggests side not welcome in US | Reuters Luckily for the tournament organisers, Iran is now eliminated and they no longer have to deal with this pesky issue.
It is safe to say that this team's disadvantaged treatment by the host nation, besides being completely unnecessary, also ended up compromising their competitive edge and their best hypothetical match fitness, calling into question the integrity of competition.