Iran to lodge complaint with FIFA over World Cup 2026 travel restrictions

Iran’s 2026 World Cup team will lodge a complaint with FIFA claiming they are being subjected to travel restrictions during the tournament in North America, the Iranian football federation spokesperson said on Thursday.

“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” the spokesperson said, according to AFP news agency.

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Iran wanted to fly from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, to the United States two days before their next group match against Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday. But the Iranian federation claims its request was turned down.

“Given that the game will be played at 12pm local time in Los Angeles, the football federation of Iran requested that the team be allowed to travel to Los Angeles two days before the match,” the spokesman said.

“The aim was to provide sufficient time for players to adapt to the match conditions, complete their final training session, and finalise preparations.

“Despite the technical reasons presented by the federation, the request was once again denied.”

After Iran’s first World Cup game on Monday – in which they drew 2-2 with New Zealand in a politically charged encounter – US officials said that the team will have to leave the country within hours of the full-time whistle at their World Cup group games in Los Angeles and Seattle.

The response from the World Cup 2026 cohost nation came on Tuesday following criticism of its handling of the Iranian team’s visas and stay in the US after their first game.

The Iranian delegation left the US hours after the match in LA ended at about 8pm local time (03:00 GMT) and returned to their base camp in Mexico, prompting criticism of the US handling of their visas, as the team did not get a day to recover at their hotel.

‘Match day minus one,’ says US government

The US administration has pushed back against the Iranian claims.

Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said on Monday that Iran had been informed in advance that they would be allowed to come into the US only on the day before the game.

“The team will be allowed to come in, match day minus one, so the day before the match,” Giuliani told CBS News.

“They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match. And they’ll be able to do that again in Los Angeles.”

He added that the procedure would be the same for Iran’s final group game against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

Iran, who are in Group G, kicked off their campaign this week in North America after months of uncertainty over the team’s participation in the World Cup amid the US-Israel war on Iran.