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FIFA chief reasserts his views on Iran\u2019s participation, saying \u2018the players want to play\u2019 in the tournament.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n By <\/span>Reuters and The Associated Press<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Published On 16 Apr 2026<\/span>16 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n FIFA President Gianni Infantino is confident Iran will play in the World Cup despite the country\u2019s sports minister stating that it cannot participate amid the war with the United States and Israel, along with President Donald \u2060Trump voicing concerns for \u2060the players\u2019 \u201clife and safety\u201d.<\/p>\n Infantino reasserted his views on Iran\u2019s participation on Wednesday, saying the team will travel to the US \u201cfor sure\u201d.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n While the US-Israel war on Iran is currently in the midst of a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire, officials in Iran have repeatedly requested a relocation of their team\u2019s games from the US to Mexico \u2013 two of the three host nations of the World Cup, along with Canada.<\/p>\n However, FIFA and its president, Infantino, have ruled out a relocation, citing logistical impediments and promising safety for the Iranian players and staff.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Iranian team is coming for sure, yes,\u201d Infantino told US business news outlet CNBC.<\/p>\n The FIFA chief, who has a close relationship with US President Trump, said \u201cIran has to come\u201d to the tournament despite the fragile ceasefire nearing its deadline on April 22.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation,\u201d Infantino said of the war. \u201cAs I said, that would definitely help. But Iran has to come. Of course, they represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n Infantino said he was recently in Antalya, Turkiye, to visit with the Iranian team at its training camp and said the team wants to participate in the World Cup.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [Iran\u2019s players] should play \u2013 sports should be outside of politics,\u201d Infantino said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, OK \u2013 we don\u2019t live on the moon, we live on \u200cplanet Earth, but if there is nobody else that believes in building bridges and in keeping them intact and together, well, we [FIFA] are doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran, one of the first teams to qualify for the World Cup, are scheduled to play all three of their group stage games on the US West Coast.<\/p>\n Team Melli are slated to open against New Zealand on June 15, then face Belgium on June 21, with both matches \u2060in Los Angeles. On June 26, Iran play against Egypt \u2060in Seattle.<\/p>\n Should they advance to the knockouts, the rest of Iran\u2019s games would also be held in the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n FIFA chief reasserts his views on Iran\u2019s participation, saying \u2018the players want to play\u2019 in the tournament. By Reuters and The Associated Press Published On 16 Apr 202616 Apr 2026 FIFA President Gianni Infantino is confident Iran will play in the World Cup despite the country\u2019s sports minister stating that it cannot participate amid the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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