Iran participating in World Cup, FIFA president confirms

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on April 15 that Iran will “for sure” participate in the 2026 World Cup despite the Middle East war.

Infantino said he was recently in Antalya, Turkey, to visit with the Iranian team at their training camp and said the team wants to participate in the World Cup.

“Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful one, which would definitely help,” Infantino said on 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’s participation in the global tournament had been thrown into doubt by the war with the United States and Israel that broke out on February 28

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

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

Iran, one of the first teams to qualify for the World Cup – which is projected to generate more than US$11 billion (S$14 billion) in revenue – is scheduled to play all three of its group stages in the US.

Iran is slated to open against New Zealand on June 15, then face Belgium on June 21, with both matches in Los Angeles. On June 26, Iran is scheduled to play Egypt in Seattle. Should Iran advance, the rest of its games would also be held in the US.

Iran requested FIFA move its games to Mexico, which is hosting games along with the US and Canada, but was denied.

A national team has not withdrawn from a FIFA World Cup since 1950, the first tournament held after World War II.

The cost of tickets and the safety of the millions of fans travelling from all over the world have also been significant concerns for organisers.

Amid “an unprecedented demand for tickets,” Infantino said there were more than 500 million ticket requests for the June 11 to July 19 tournament.

“Security is obviously key, it’s crucial, it’s important,” he said. “You can, of course, always hear and read there are bans or this and that, but the fact is, we received ticket requests from all 211 countries. Everybody’s coming, and everybody wants to come.”

So for Infantino, what would qualify as a successful World Cup?

“A win would be that we have a successful World Cup from a security point of view, so no incidents,” he said. “And from a football point of view, great matches, great games, excitement for the people.” 

-AFP/Reuters

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