Iran\u2019s team is preparing for the FIFA World Cup but may not travel for the tournament, Sport Minister Donyamali says.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 21 Apr 2026<\/span>21 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Iran\u2019s football team is preparing for the World Cup, but a final decision on its participation in the tournament will be taken by the government, the country\u2019s sport minister says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the safety of the national team\u2019s players in the United States is ensured, we will travel to the World Cup,\u201d Iran\u2019s Sports and Youth Minister Ahmad Donyamali was quoted as saying by Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency on Thursday.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cThe decision will be made by the government and the Supreme National Security Council,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Team Melli are scheduled to play all their World Cup games in the US, one of the three host nations alongside Canada and Mexico, but their participation has been uncertain since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28.<\/p>\n The doubts surrounding Iran\u2019s role in the tournament remain as a fragile Pakistan-mediated ceasefire between Tehran and Washington nears its deadline on Thursday.<\/p>\n Donyamali, speaking to Iranian media, insisted that the team will continue to train for the World Cup regardless of the ongoing geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe national team may not go to the World Cup, but if we are going to participate, we must be ready,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Football Federation (FFIRI) asked FIFA to move its games out of the US last month, but the sport\u2019s governing body said all World Cup fixtures will go ahead as scheduled, dismissing the possibility of Mexico hosting the Iranian team, citing logistical impediments.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he was \u201cconfident\u201d that Iran would play in the World Cup despite US President Donald Trump\u2019s earlier comments saying \u201cit would not be appropriate\u201d for them to participate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to the World Cup, but I really don\u2019t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,\u201d Trump wrote in a social media post last month.<\/p>\n The FIFA chief, who has a close relationship with 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 US-Israeli war on Iran. \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 Iranian Minister Donyamali has repeatedly linked Iran\u2019s participation with a guarantee for the players\u2019 safety, as well as the ongoing war. He told local media that the FFIRI will set up a training camp for the squad in the event the team is given a go-ahead by the government.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be ready, but maybe the decision is not to go, and if we are going to go, we have to be ready to have a strong presence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur duty from a professional point of view is to carry out the work and preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n The Iranian squad\u2019s World Cup training camp will commence from May 10 and will last for over a week, he confirmed.<\/p>\n Iran played two international friendlies in Turkiye last month under tight security and limited media access.<\/p>\n Team Melli are slated to open against New Zealand on June 15, then face Belgium on June 21, with both matches \u2060\u2060in Los Angeles. On June 26, Iran play against Egypt \u2060\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 Iran\u2019s team is preparing for the FIFA World Cup but may not travel for the tournament, Sport Minister Donyamali says. Published On 21 Apr 202621 Apr 2026 Iran\u2019s football team is preparing for the World Cup, but a final decision on its participation in the tournament will be taken by the government, the country\u2019s sport […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19815","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=19815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG-20250912-WA0000-1757829229.jpg?resize=96%2C96&quality=80)
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