Iran to attend DC World Cup draw as its fans due to be barred
Iran will attend the draw for the 2026 World Cup in Washington DC on Friday after initially threating a boycott, while a travel ban looks set to bar Iranian fans.
Iran will attend the draw for the 2026 World Cup in Washington DC on Friday after initially threating a boycott, while a travel ban looks set to bar Iranian fans.
Iran had sought nine visas for its delegation but only four were granted, including for head coach Amir Ghalenoei, spokesman Amir Mehdi Alavi said on Thursday.
Mehdi Taj, the federation’s president, did not receive a visa.
Earlier in the week, Iran's football authorities said they would boycott a draw for the US-hosted 2026 World Cup in Washington DC slated for Friday after visas for two top officials were rejected.
But on Thursday, Iranian media reported that the federation will now send Ghalenoei and Omid Jamali, the head of its international relations office, to attend the draw.
The White House on Wednesday said Iran’s national team will be allowed to enter the US for the World Cup but suggested that Iranian fans will be barred, citing existing travel bans and declined to rule out immigration raids at matches.
“The President has, in his executive order, certainly named Iran as one of the countries whose teams will be exempt to come here,” the head of the White House task force on the World Cup, Andrew Giuliani, told reporters.
Asked whether there would be ICE raids at matches, Giuliani said “the President does not rule out anything that will help make American citizens safer.”
Iran will play in their fourth straight World Cup finals when the tournament opens across the United States, Canada and Mexico on June 11.
Football fandom is endemic in Iran despite only lukewarm endorsement by the ruling Islamic theocracy and its team regularly qualifies for the World Cup.
