FIFA chief Infantino assures Iran at World Cup: “They’ll come, no doubt” | OneFootball

Iran will “without a doubt” play in the 2026 World Cup, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday, although the Asian team’s participation remains uncertain less than two months before the tournament due to the conflict in the Middle East.

“Iran will come, without a doubt,” to the tournament, which will be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada, Infantino said during an event organized by television channel CNBC in Washington.

“We hope that, by that time [the start of the World Cup, on June 11], the situation will be a peaceful one, which would really help,” the official explained.

“But Iran has to come, it represents its people, it qualified, and the players want to play,” the FIFA president said.

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Iran’s participation in the World Cup had been called into question because of the war with the United States and Israel, which broke out on February 28.

However, Infantino had already assured Team Melli’s participation in the World Cup, even though U.S. President Donald Trump, with whom the FIFA chief is often seen publicly, had at one point suggested that Iranian players might not be “safe” in the United States.

The 2026 World Cup, the first to feature 48 national teams, will take place from June 11 to July 19.

“Out of politics”

At the start of the war in the Middle East, Iran spoke of a “boycott” of the World Cup, before asking FIFA to move its matches from the United States to Mexico, a request that was rejected by football’s governing body.

Iran is in Group G of the World Cup, where it will face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, and Egypt in Seattle.

After several weeks of airstrikes against Iran and Iranian reprisals against Israel and countries in the region, a fragile two-week truce came into effect on April 8.

But Tehran closed the strategically important Strait of Hormuz and, since Monday, Washington has been imposing a blockade on vessels coming from or bound for Iranian ports.

“Sport must be kept out of politics,” Infantino said on Wednesday.

“Sure, we don’t live on the Moon. We live on planet Earth. But if there is no one else left who believes in building bridges, and keeping them intact and united, then we will do that job,” he added.

He also said that the biggest World Cup ever organized (across three countries and with 48 teams taking part) will be “a success” if it proves “successful from a security standpoint, meaning without incidents, and from a football standpoint, with great matches and exciting football.”

With AFP content*

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