The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, told AFP on Tuesday that Iran “will be at the World Cup” and will play their group matches in the United States as scheduled, despite the Middle East war.
“Iran will be at the World Cup,” Infantino said at half-time of Iran’s friendly against Costa Rica in Turkey. “That’s why we’re here. We’re delighted because they’re a very, very strong team, I’m very happy.”
Infantino, whose attendance at Tuesday’s game was unannounced, added: “I’ve seen the team, I’ve spoken to the players and the coach, so everything is fine.”
Infantino went on to stress that Iran’s “matches will be played where they are supposed to be, according to the draw”. The Iranian football federation said earlier this month it was “negotiating” with Fifa to relocate the country’s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico, due to the US and Israel’s war with Iran. Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said that her country was prepared to host Iran’s first-round matches at the tournament if needed.
Iran was among the first countries to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, having finished atop their group in the qualifying tournament for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). They have qualified for four consecutive men’s World Cups and six of the last eight tournaments overall.
However, they have fallen short of the knockout round in each of the last three tournaments for which they qualified. In 2014 they finished bottom of a group featuring Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Nigeria. They finished agonizingly close in each of the next two tournaments, finishing third and being eliminated on the last day of group play in 2018 and 2022, when their final game came against the United States.
The 2026 World Cup, being hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, gets under way on 11 June, with Iran set to play their first Group G game against New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June, before facing Belgium on 21 June in Los Angeles and Egypt on 26 June in Seattle.
Iran’s participation had been thrown into doubt by the war with the US and Israel that broke out on 28 February. Infantino initially said Donald Trump had given assurances that the Iranian team would still be welcome. But Trump then said that Iran’s team should not travel to the tournament “for their own life and safety”.
Iran hit back at Trump’s comments, saying that “no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup”.
On 19 March, Infantino said Fifa was committed to making sure the World Cup goes ahead “as scheduled” with “all teams” taking part.
“Fifa is looking forward to all teams participating at the World Cup to compete in a spirit of fair play and mutual respect,” Infantino said from Zurich during an online Fifa Council meeting.
“Fifa can’t solve geopolitical conflicts, but we are committed to using the power of football and the World Cup to build bridges and promote peace as our thoughts are with those who are suffering as a consequence of the ongoing wars.”
Iran played a friendly against Nigeria in Turkey last Friday, at which their players wore black armbands and posed with school rucksacks to remember the victims of a strike on a primary school in Iran on the first day of the Middle East war.
The airstrike on the school in the southern Iranian city of Minab killed at least 170 people including children and teachers.
The New York Times has reported that the preliminary findings of a US military investigation indicate that an American tomahawk cruise missile hit the school due to a targeting mistake.
