Iran to boycott USA, not World Cup, says federation chief | OneFootball

Iran will “boycott the United States, but not the World Cup” of football, said the president of the Iranian Federation, Mehdi Taj.

According to the FIFA draw, Iran is set to play its group stage matches of the World Cup in the United States, but the possibility of moving the matches to Mexico is being considered.

“We will prepare for the World Cup. We will boycott the United States, but not the World Cup,” Taj declared in a video released by the Fars news agency.

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The Iranian Football Federation revealed that it has started talks with FIFA about the possibility of transferring its matches, but the entity that governs world football states that the tournament schedule will not be changed.

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, stated on Tuesday that her country is prepared to host Iran’s group stage matches if necessary, due to the conflict in the Middle East.

“Mexico maintains diplomatic relations with all countries in the world, so we will wait to see what FIFA decides,” said the president.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino initially stated that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, had given assurances that the Iranian team was welcome in the country.

The official schedule foresees that Iran will face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and then Egypt in Seattle, in Group G of the World Cup.

Trump received criticism last week after declaring that the Iranian team should not travel to the tournament “for their own life and safety.”

Tehran responded that “no one can exclude the Iranian national team from the World Cup.”

Iran was the second Asian team, after Japan, to qualify for the World Cup, securing its spot almost a year ago.

The Iranian team’s training base for the tournament was supposed to be Tucson, Arizona.

Abolfazl Pasandideh, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, denounced on Monday “the lack of cooperation from the United States government in issuing visas and providing logistical support” to the Iranian delegation for the tournament.

By AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.