WASHINGTON: FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Wednesday that Iran will &quot;for sure&quot; participate in the 2026 World Cup despite the Middle East war. &quot;Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful situation, that would definitely help,&quot; Infantino told an economic conference organized by broadcaster CNBC. &quot;But Iran has to come, they represent their people, they have qualified, the players want to play,&quot; he said of the team&#39;s upcoming matches scheduled in the United States in June. Infantino had made similar comments in March, when he attended an Iran-Costa Rica friendly in Antalya, Turkey, even though US President Donald Trump had previously suggested that Iranian players might not be &quot;safe&quot; in the United States. Iran is scheduled to play its three Group G matches in the United States, two in Los Angeles, one in Seattle with their base for the tournament in Tucson, Arizona. &#39;Outside of politics&#39; Iran&#39;s participation in the global tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico had been thrown into doubt by the conflict launched by the United States and Israel on February 28. Iran raised the prospect of a &quot;boycott&quot; of the competition 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 reprisals against Israel and other countries in the region, a fragile truce came into effect on April 8. But Tehran has sealed off the strategic Strait of Hormuz and since Monday Washington has imposed a blockade on ships coming from or heading to Iranian ports. &quot;Sports should be outside of politics,&quot; Infantino said on Wednesday. &quot;If there&#39;s nobody else that believes in building bridges and keeping them intact and together, we are doing the job,&quot; he said. The World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams, starts on June 11.

Football players take part in a training session of the Bicentini Foundation football school in the Fuik neighborhood, east of Willemstad, in the Dutch Caribbean, on April 11, 2026.

Football

Gianni Infantino says Iran will definitely play in the 2026 World Cup despite ongoing regional tensions, emphasizing that football should remain separate from politics.

Iran participating in World Cup, FIFA president confirms

ANTALYA: FIFA president Gianni Infantino told AFP Tuesday that Iran &quot;will be at the World Cup&quot; and will play their group matches in the United States as scheduled, despite the Middle East war. &quot;Iran will be at the World Cup,&quot; Infantino said at half-time as Iran beat Costa Rica 5-0 in a friendly in southern Turkey. &quot;That&#39;s why we&#39;re here. We&#39;re delighted because they&#39;re a very, very strong team, I&#39;m very happy.&quot; &quot;I&#39;ve seen the team, I&#39;ve spoken to the players and the coach, so everything is fine,&quot; added Infantino, whose attendance at Tuesday&#39;s game was unannounced. Infantino went on to stress that Iran&#39;s &quot;matches will be played where they are supposed to be, according to the draw.&quot; The World Cup, being hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, starts on June 11. Iran are set to play their first Group G game against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15. They are then scheduled to play Belgium in Los Angeles on June 21 and Egypt in Seattle on June 26. Iran&#39;s participation had been thrown into doubt by the war with the US and Israel that broke out on February 28. &quot;For us, what matters most are FIFA&#39;s rules and regulations. We will comply with whatever FIFA decides. Every host country has made commitments to FIFA and must honour them,&quot; Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, the vice president of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI), told AFP at the match. The FFIRI had said earlier this month it was &quot;negotiating&quot; with FIFA to relocate the country&#39;s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also said that her country is prepared to host Iran&#39;s first-round matches at the tournament if needed. &#39;Fruitful discussion&#39;Infantino initially said that US President Donald Trump had given assurances that the Iranian team would still be welcome. But Trump then stated that Iran&#39;s team should not travel to the tournament &quot;for their own life and safety.&quot; Iran hit back at Trump&#39;s comments, saying that &quot;no one can exclude Iran&#39;s national team from the World Cup.&quot; On Tuesday, Mohammad Nabi said Infantino had been en route from Mexico to Qatar. &quot;Having learnt that we were organising friendly matches here, he came to see us in person, and we had a fruitful discussion,&quot; Mohammad Nabi said. &quot;Given our history in this competition, it is only natural that FIFA should support the Iranian team. Mr Infantino is providing the necessary support to our national team and has given our players a great boost.&quot; Asked before the game if Iran would be at the World Cup, backup striker Dennis Eckert Ayensa told AFP, &quot;Inshallah&quot; (god willing). Iran, who also played a friendly against Nigeria in the Turkish town of Belek last Friday, crushed Costa Rica, who have not qualified for the World Cup, 5-0 on Tuesday. Skipper Mehdi Taremi, with two penalties, Ali Gholizadeh and Mohammad Mohebbi put Iran four goals up by the break. Half-time substitute Mehdi Ghayedi added a fifth in the 51st minute, by which time coach Amir Ghalenoei had started to empty his bench. Before the game, Iran&#39;s&nbsp;players wore black armbands and posed with photos of what officials said were young victims of the war, including those killed in an airstrike on a primary school in Iran on the first day of the conflict. The airstrike on the school in the southern Iranian city of Minab on February 28 killed at least 170 people, including students and teachers. The New York Times has reported that the preliminary findings of a US military investigation indicate that a US Tomahawk cruise missile hit the school due to a targeting mistake.&nbsp;

FIFA president Gianni Infantino told AFP Tuesday that Iran "will be at the World Cup" and will play their group matches in the United States as scheduled, despite the Middle East war

'Iran will be at World Cup' and play in US: FIFA Infantino

PARIS: FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Thursday underlined the body&#39;s commitment to making sure the World Cup goes ahead &quot;as scheduled&quot; with &quot;all teams&quot; taking part amid doubts about Iran&#39;s presence at the tournament.&nbsp;&quot;FIFA is looking forward to all teams participating at the World Cup to compete in a spirit of fair play and mutual respect,&quot; Infantino said from Zurich during an online FIFA Council meeting.&nbsp;&quot;We have a schedule. We will soon have the 48 competing teams confirmed, and we want the World Cup to go ahead as scheduled.&quot;&nbsp;Iran&#39;s participation has been shrouded in doubt due to the conflict in the Middle East.&nbsp;They are due to play group games in the United States, against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and in Seattle against Egypt.&nbsp;However, Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj indicated that as a result of the US-Israeli attacks on his country he wanted its matches moved to one of the other host nations ,Canada and Mexico will host the World Cup with the United States.&nbsp;&quot;We will be preparing for the World Cup. We will boycott the United States but not the World Cup,&quot; Taj said in the video released on Wednesday.&nbsp;Iran&#39;s football federation says it has opened talks with FIFA about potentially relocating its matches.&nbsp;Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country is prepared to host Iran&#39;s first-round matches if required.&nbsp;&quot;FIFA can&#39;t solve geopolitical conflicts, but we are committed to using the power of football and the World Cup to build bridges and promote peace as our thoughts are with those who are suffering as a consequence of the ongoing wars,&quot; added Infantino.

FIFA said the World Cup will go ahead as scheduled with all teams, despite uncertainty over Iran’s participation, as Tehran seeks to move its US matches elsewhere and Mexico says it is ready to host them.

Articles tagged with "FIFA president Gianni Infantino"

Iran participating in World Cup, FIFA president confirms

'Iran will be at World Cup' and play in US: FIFA Infantino

FIFA planning for World Cup to 'go ahead as scheduled' amid Iran uncertainty