Iran will not boycott FIFA World Cup, but seeks to get United States-based matches moved
Iran's men's team is holding a pre-World Cup training camp in Turkey, but will not travel to the United States. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)
In short:
Iran's soccer chief says it has no intention of boycotting the FIFA World Cup, even if the team does not travel to the United States.
Iran is currently in negotiations with FIFA to have its group stage matches moved away from the US.
What's next?
Iran is currently scheduled to open its World Cup campaign with a clash against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 15.
The Iranian national team is continuing to prepare for the World Cup finals and has no intention of pulling out of the tournament even if it will not travel to the United States, soccer chief Mehdi Taj has said.
Iran was one of the first nations to qualify for the finals, but its participation has been in doubt since the conflict between the Islamic Republic and the United States began in late February.
The tournament runs from June 11 to July 19 and is being staged in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Iran is scheduled to play all three of its opening-round group matches in the US but Taj said on Monday, local time, the Iranian FA (FFIRI) was negotiating with FIFA to have them moved to Mexico.
The president of Iran's football federation, Mehdi Taj, says the team will not play its World Cup matches in the United States. (Getty Images: Harold Cunningham)
Iran will play Nigeria on March 27 and Costa Rica four days later in Antalya as part of a four-nation invitational tournament that had to be moved from Jordan because of the conflict in the Middle East.
"The national team is holding a training camp in Turkey, and we will also play two friendly matches there," Taj was quoted as saying by the Fars News Agency on Wednesday.
"We will boycott America, but we will not boycott the World Cup."
Taj was speaking on Wednesday as he welcomed the players from the women's national team back to Iran at the border crossing from Turkey after its protracted journey from Australia.
All of the delegation, who were in Australia for the Women's Asian Cup, were offered asylum by the host nation because of fears for their safety in Iran. While seven accepted, only two ended up staying.
US President Donald Trump had urged Australia to offer the players asylum and later said that while the Iranian men were welcome to play in the US, it might not be appropriate for their "life and safety".
Trump later stressed any threat to the players would not come from the US, but Taj — a former member of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guard — used the president's statement as grounds for demanding the venue switch.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country would be open to hosting Iran's World Cup matches against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in June, but the final say on any venue switch would be FIFA's.
Soccer's world governing body said it was in contact with FFIRI but was "looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on 6 December 2025".
Reuters