FIFA head says Iran will 'for sure' participate in soccer World Cup in US

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Wednesday that Iran would “for sure” participate in the 2026 soccer World Cup despite the Middle East war.

“Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful situation. That would definitely help,” Infantino told an economic conference organized by broadcaster CNBC.

“But Iran has to come, they represent their people, they have qualified, the players want to play,” he said of the team’s upcoming matches scheduled in the United States in June.

Iran, which dominated the Asian qualifying rounds to book its place at the tournament in March last year, is scheduled to play all three Group G matches on American soil — two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle — against Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. Their base for the tournament will be in Tucson, Arizona.

Infantino had made similar comments in March, when he attended an Iran-Costa Rica friendly in Antalya, Turkey, even though US President Donald Trump had previously suggested that Iranian players might not be “safe” in the United States.

‘Outside of politics’

Iran’s participation in the global tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico had been thrown into doubt by the conflict launched by Israel and the US against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile capacities.

Iran raised the prospect of a “boycott” of the competition before asking FIFA to move its matches from the United States to Mexico, a request the world governing body rejected.

After over a month of airstrikes on Iran and Iranian attacks against Israel and other countries in the region, a two-week ceasefire came into effect on April 8, which Israel has also complied with. Jerusalem was not represented at talks held in Pakistan over the weekend that aimed to resolve the conflict but failed to reach a deal.

The US-Israeli war with Iran has resulted in the largest-ever disruption of global oil and gas supplies due to Iran’s interruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas ​flows.

“Sports should be outside of politics,” Infantino said on Wednesday.

“If there’s nobody else that believes in building bridges and keeping them intact and together, we are doing the job,” he said.

The World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams, will be held June 11-July 19 in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Last month, the Iranian women’s soccer team left Malaysia for Oman, ending days of uncertainty after five of the seven squad members sparked a diplomatic furor by seeking asylum in Australia, then reversed their decisions and rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur.

Asked if the Asian Football Confederation is satisfied that the women will be safe back in Iran, General Secretary Windsor John said the AFC and FIFA will check up on them regularly with the Iranian federation “as they are our girls as well.”

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