Iran are mulling boycotting the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026, set to be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19. The tensions between Iran and the USA escalated dramatically on Saturday, with the US and Israel launching strikes in Iran. On Sunday morning, the US President Donald Trump announced that Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed.
Iran qualified for the World Cup for the fourth time in a row and were drawn in December’s pot picks in Washington. The team are slated to play all their group stage games on US soil. Iran are scheduled to play their opening match against New Zealand on June 15 in Los Angeles, followed by Belgium on June 21.
Iran will then travel to Seattle to take on Egypt on June 26. Amid the ongoing escalation between Iran and the USA/Israel, the Iranian Football Federation president, Mehdi Taj, said that what has happened in the last two days makes it really difficult to consider playing on US soil in the FIFA World Cup.
However, he stated that the final call will be taken in the coming few days, and the sports chiefs will give their verdict.
“With what happened today and with that attack by the United States, it is unlikely that we can look forward to the World Cup, but the sports chiefs are the ones who must decide on that,” he told Marca.
The Iranian league has also been suspended until further notice due to the recent developments.
FIFA monitoring the situation
FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafstrom on Saturday confirmed that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) met in Wales, saying the world body is closely monitoring the situation.
“I read the news (about Iran) this morning the same way you did,” Grafstrom told the media.
“We had a meeting today, and it is premature to comment in detail, but we will monitor developments around all issues around the world. We held the finals draw in Washington, which included all teams, and our focus is on a safe World Cup with all teams participating. We will continue to communicate as we always do with three [host] governments, as we always do in any case. Everybody will be safe,” he added.
Due to the escalation in the United States-Iran conflict, several key aviation hubs in the Middle East have been impacted. On Saturday, the US forces struck several locations in Iran which “posed an imminent threat”, including “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities. Israel also confirmed that ”Iran fired dozens” of missiles at Israel.
