DUBAI (Kashmir English): FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that Iran will “for sure” participate in the 2026 World Cup despite the Middle East crisis.
“Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful situation, that would definitely help,” Infantino told participants at an economic conference organised 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 US in June.
The FIFA president had made similar comments in March, when he attended an Iran-Costa Rica friendly in Antalya, Turkiye, even though US President Donald Trump had previously said that Iranian players might not be “safe” in his country.
Iran is slated to play its three Group G matches in the United States — two in Los Angeles, and one in Seattle — with their base for the global event in Tucson, Arizona.
Iran’s participation in World Cup
Iran’s participation in the World Cup being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico had been thrown into doubt by the war imposed by the United States and Israel on Iran on February 28.
Iran then raised the prospect of a “boycott” of the global tournament before asking FIFA to move its matches from the United States to Mexico, a request the world governing body rejected.
After several weeks of air strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliations against Israel and other Middle East countries, a fragile truce came into effect on April 8.
“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 said.
The World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams, starts on June 11 in three countries.
