Members of Iranian soccer staff wait to receive US visas ahead of 2026 FIFA World Cup, official say
Iran’s World Cup soccer players have received visas to enter the United States, a US official said days before their first match, but Iranian media said on Saturday that some administrative staff had not received their visas.
The White House official told Reuters on Friday, 10 days before Iran plays in Los Angeles, that the players had received their visas, after Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, had said on Thursday that they had not.
First World Cup with hosts receiving war adversary
Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported that those who had not received visas included Executive Director Mehdi Kharati, the secretary general of the soccer federation, Hedayat Mombini, and Media Director Mohsen Motamedkia.
Staff members without visas would travel to Mexico with the team while efforts to obtain visas continue, the agency said.
Iran’s football federation said the behavior of co-hosts the US “contradicts international sports laws” and it would take up the matter with soccer’s world governing body FIFA.
“The US government, continuing its hostile actions against the national team … made a non-sporting and completely political decision to refuse visas for key managerial and administrative members of the Iranian national football team,” it said in a statement reported by Iran’s state media.
“This issue will definitely be pursued by the Football Federation through FIFA.
“As the responsible body, (FIFA) has the duty to follow up and finalize the visas for the managerial, executive, technical, and support staff of the Iranian national team who are currently in camp and whom the national team urgently needs.”
FIFA was not immediately available for comment outside business hours in the US.
Geopolitical Contest
The US, Mexico, and Canada are co-hosting the biggest global sporting event, which starts on Wednesday.
The war on Iran, launched by the US and Israel in February, has turned the World Cup into a geopolitical contest, with both sides appearing to use the tournament for political posturing.
This is the first World Cup since its inception in 1930 in which a host nation is set to receive a country with which it is at war.
Tehran negotiated a last-minute move of the team’s base from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, due to the visa issues and a growing feeling in Iran that the squad’s presence in the United States should be kept to a minimum.
They are scheduled to land in Tijuana early on Sunday.
Iran is due to play their first Group G match on June 15 against New Zealand in Los Angeles, where they will also face Belgium before taking on Egypt in Seattle.
Rubio says US to bar people linked to Revolutionary Guards
The US never formally said it did not want the Iranian team to stay on its territory, Ambassador Pasandideh said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the US would not allow Iran to include in its delegation people linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful branch of the Iranian armed forces.
Mehdi Taj, president of Iran’s soccer federation, was denied entry for the tournament draw in Washington in December. He is a former commander in the Revolutionary Guards.
Iran’s desire to compete in the World Cup underscored its efforts to reach a resolution in the war with Washington, Pasandideh said.
“Iran’s participation in the World Cup – even on the soil of what is seen as its enemy – shows that Iran seeks peace,” Pasandideh said through a Spanish interpreter at the Iranian embassy in Mexico City.
Progress in peace talks between Iran and the US has been slow, with both sides seemingly inching toward an interim agreement even as they continue to carry out military strikes.
Journalists denied visas
“Many” Iranian and African journalists have been denied the necessary visas to cover the World Cup in the United States, according to the International Sports Press Association.
The association sent a letter on Friday to Bryan Swanson, FIFA’s director of media relations, and Jochen Steinhoff, the soccer governing body’s head of media operations and services.
“We find ourselves facing a long-standing and unacceptable problem for us journalists: the denial of entry visas to regularly accredited colleagues,” association president Gianni Merlo wrote, per The Athletic.
“There are many cases: Iranian colleagues, African colleagues, some of whom have been given single entries, so if their team goes to play in Canada or Mexico and they follow it, they can no longer return to the States. The cases are countless and, I repeat, unacceptable. Politicians always say that sport unites and builds bridges between young people in countries in conflict, but in this case, we are going in the opposite direction.
“We believe it is important to allow colleagues to attend the event and work, because their presence will be crucial to the image of sport and what it represents, especially in a country like the United States of America, where freedom of the press is a must.
“I hope FIFA can do everything possible to secure visas. We’re already significantly behind schedule, and many colleagues have already lost the opportunity to use plane tickets booked on time, and they’ll also face significant additional expenses.”
The 48-team FIFA World Cup begins Thursday and runs through July 19 with matches in the US, Mexico, and Canada.
Iran is competing in the tournament despite an ongoing armed conflict with the US. African teams in the field include Algeria, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.
Several teams, including Ivory Coast and Tunisia, require multi-entry visas because they have games scheduled in the United States as well as in Canada or Mexico.
As of Saturday morning, the US State Department had not responded to a request for comment from The Athletic.
