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IN BRIEF
- The Iranian football federation says it’s unsure if US visas would be granted to all of the team members.
- Iran’s three group stage games are set to take place in Los Angeles and Seattle.
Iran has decided to relocate its World Cup training camp to Mexico, a move sanctioned by FIFA as announced by Mehdi Taj, the president of Iran’s football federation.
The Iranian squad will now set up their base in Tijuana, a city situated on the Mexican side of the border with the United States, Taj revealed in a video published by the Fars news agency.
Taj explained, “After productive discussions with FIFA officials, we successfully obtained approval to switch our training location from the United States to Mexico. This decision was driven by difficulties in securing visas.”
“Our team will now be stationed in Tijuana, a coastal city near the Pacific Ocean. Although it borders the US, it is firmly within Mexican territory, and we have already finalized our arrangements there,” Taj added.
He emphasized that this shift will alleviate visa-related challenges, allowing the team to utilize Iran Air’s direct flights to Mexico for their travel needs.
Iran’s participation in the World Cup has been in question for months because it is being co-hosted by the United States, which along with Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February, sparking a wider war in the Middle East.
Iran has been drawn in Group G and will play their first two matches in Los Angeles.
The team opens its campaign against New Zealand on 15 June and will then face Belgium on 21 June before rounding off their group games against Egypt in Seattle on 26 June.
Taj said that Tijuana was closer to the cities where Iran will play than the camp in Arizona would have been.
“The distance for us in the two games that we have in LA will be a 55-minute flight. Which is a lot less compared to Tucson,” the federation president said.
The Iran team is currently preparing in Antalya, southern Türkiye, and some of the squad went to the US embassy in Ankara on Thursday (local time) to submit visa applications for the World Cup.
Visa uncertainty for the Iranian team
The Iranian football federation’s vice-president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi said on Tuesday that the federation was unsure if US visas would be granted to all of the team and accompanying officials.
“We’re not certain yet that all the players and staff will receive US visas,” he said, but added that Iran was “very confident” in FIFA’s protocols.
Sarah Hanna, the head of the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson where the Iran team were to have been based, told Agence France-Presse that she could not confirm the move to Mexico and referred all questions to World Cup organisers.
At a FIFA congress in Vancouver last month, president Gianni Infantino said that Iran would play their World Cup games in the US as scheduled.
“Let me start at the outset by confirming straight away, for those who maybe want to say something else or write something else, that of course Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026,” Infantino said then.
“And of course, Iran will play in the United States of America. The reason for that is simple, because we have to unite. We have to bring people together.”
The World Cup, hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada, kicks off on 11 June.
You can watch all 104 games of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ live, free and exclusive on SBS, SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.
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