IRAN DRAWN TO PLAY IN LA AND SEATTLE
In the draw last December, the Iranians were grouped with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. All three of their Group G matches were scheduled to take place in the US, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Iran, which dominated the Asian qualifying rounds to qualify for the tournament in March last year, was the only nation missing from a FIFA planning summit for World Cup participants held last week in Atlanta.
Reuters has contacted the Iranian Football Federation for comment, while there was no immediate comment from FIFA on a replacement if Iran followed through with a boycott.
FIFA regulations for the World Cup state that any team that withdraws from the tournament “no later than 30 days before the first match” will be fined at least 250,000 Swiss francs (US$320,800) by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
“Disciplinary sanctions may include the expulsion of the participating member association concerned from subsequent FIFA competitions and/or the replacement of the participating member association with another member association,” FIFA’s regulations say.
INFANTINO SAYS PRESIDENT TRUMP WELCOMES IRAN TEAM
Earlier, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he had met US President Donald Trump, who told him he welcomed Iran’s participation in the 2026 Football World Cup.
Trump had previously said “I really don’t care” if Iran participated at the World Cup or not, but Infantino said he had a productive discussion with the president.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino said.
A source in Tehran familiar with the matter said the decision was not to attend the World Cup, while warm-up games were also not possible because of the war.