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The groups for the 2026 World Cup will be drawn next week in Washington, DC, but one of the participating countries has decided to boycott the draw.
Iran chose not to attend the event because the United States denied visas to members of its delegation, the official IRNA news agency reported Friday.
The agency cited Iranian football federation spokesman Amir-Mahdi Alavi as saying officials faced visa hurdles that go beyond sporting considerations. Alavi said the federation had contacted FIFA and hoped it could help resolve the issue.
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Iranian players celebrate after the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asia Qualifiers Group A football match between Iran and Uzbekistan on March 25, 2025 in Tehran. (AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s administration announced a travel ban in June on citizens of 12 countries, including Iran. The list also included Haiti, which qualified for the World Cup last week.
Exemptions were, however, promised for “any athlete or member of a sports team, including coaches, persons in a necessary supporting role and immediate parents, traveling for the World Cup, Olympic Games or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.”
The White House did not respond to PK Press Club Digital’s request for comment.
It is unclear whether the exemptions also apply to the World Cup draw, which will take place next Friday at the Kennedy Center.
The Iranian delegation was to have been led by the president of its football federation, Mehdi Taj, one of the most senior officials in Asian football and a member of two FIFA committees that oversee the World Cup.
He is one of the vice-presidents of the Asian Football Confederation and a member of FIFA’s committees, responsible for the governing body’s competitions, as well as the men’s national football teams in general.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino answers questions during a news conference for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Thursday, June 16, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
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A record 48 teams will participate in the World Cup from June 11 to July 19, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Six of the teams will be determined next March.
The championship will be played at MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The first will take place at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Games will also be held in the Boston area, but Trump has threatened to pull games from Foxoborough, Massachusetts, if “conditions are unsafe.”
Trump made the suggestion while answering media questions during a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House, threatening to call FIFA President Gianni Infantino called for the games to be moved to cooperating cities, citing security concerns.
“We can take them away. I love the people of Boston. And I know the games are complete, but the mayor is no good. There are worse people than her. At least she’s smart. You know, some people have extremely low IQs. That bothers me more. She’s smart, but she’s radical left,” Trump said.
U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in the stands with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his wife Leena Al Ashqar during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters via Imagn Images)
“The answer is yes, if someone is doing a bad job and if I feel the conditions are not safe, I would call Gianni, the director of FIFA, who is phenomenal, and I would say to him: ‘Let’s move him somewhere else,’ and he would do it. He wouldn’t like to do it, but he would do it, very easily, he would do it. And this is the right time to do it.”
Boston is currently scheduled to host seven matches at the World Cup in North America next summer. The list includes five group stage matches, a round of 16 match and the first quarter-final on July 9.
