Fifa confident of holding World Cup with all planned teams

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Gazeta Esportiva.com

·19 Maret 2026

Fifa confident of holding World Cup with all planned teams

Fifa wants the 2026 World Cup to take place “as planned,” with the participation of “all teams”, despite existing doubts regarding Iran, following the armed offensive launched by the United States and Israel.

After a meeting of its Executive Committee this Thursday at the organization’s headquarters in Zurich, the world’s top football authority expressed its desire “to see all teams participating in the World Cup competing in an environment of fair play and mutual respect.”

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“We have a schedule. Soon, we will have confirmation of the 48 participating teams and we want [the competition] to take place as planned,” Fifa continued in its statement.

The organization’s president, Gianni Infantino, “made an appeal for peace and reaffirmed the fundamental role of football in uniting people during these times of ongoing geopolitical turbulence,” without explicitly mentioning the situation in Iran.

The United States is the main host nation of the World Cup (from June 11 to July 19), with Canada and Mexico also serving as hosts.

Iran is scheduled to play its three group stage matches on American soil, although the ongoing conflict puts this plan on hold.

Mehdi Taj, president of the Iranian Football Federation, stated on Wednesday that his country is “boycotting the United States,” but “not the World Cup,” thus implicitly pointing to the need to relocate these three matches.

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, declared on Tuesday that her nation is willing to host the Iranian team for the group stage matches. However, Fifa has not yet commented on this possibility, instead insisting on its original schedule.

On March 12, US President Donald Trump suggested that Iranian players would not enjoy full “security” if they traveled to his country, although he did not specify the source of the potential threat against them.

The official schedule has Iran facing New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and then Egypt in Seattle, in Group G of the World Cup.

With content from AFP*

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