March 12 – The speculation over whether Iran will take their place at the 2026 World Cup may have been answered with the country’s Minister of Sports and Youth Ahmad Donyamali saying that “conditions for participation do not exist”.
In an interview with the state-run IRIB Sports Network, Donyamali said: “Given that this corrupt government has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances do we have the appropriate conditions to participate in the World Cup.
“Our boys are not safe, and conditions for participation do not exist.”
He added that “over the past eight or nine months, two wars have been imposed on us and several thousand of our people have been killed and martyred. Therefore, we definitely do not have the possibility for participation.”
The comments were echoed by Mehdi Taj, president of the Iran Football Federation, who said the conflict has fundamentally altered the thinking around participation at the World Cup.
“What is certain is that after these attacks, it’s hard to look at the World Cup with hope,” Taj said.
He went further when discussing the prospect of the team travelling to the United States, saying: “How can one be optimistic about the World Cup in the United States under these conditions?
“If the World Cup takes place under these conditions, what sane person would send their national team to such a place?”
The comments came around the same time that FIFA president Gianni Infantino and US president Donald Trump met in Washington to discuss the issue with Infantino posting on Instagram: “During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States.”
Quite how many of them would be welcome remains to be seen. Last December, before the US and Israel began their assault on Iran, Taj issued a warning that some payers and staff may be denied entry to the US for the 2026 World Cup because they have served in the military.
The issue for Iran’s players is that the country has compulsory military service for all men when they reach the age of 19.
A number of Iran national team players have served in the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US since 2019.
Taj attended the World Cup draw last December but an Iranian assistant coach (Saeed Elhayi) was denied a visa because he had served in the IRGC.
Iranian players often fulfil their national service obligations by playing in Iran’s top tier professional league with military associated clubs. However, may others complete a full national service commitment.
The highest profile player who has served in the IRGC is captain and national team talisman Mehdi Taremi who plays for Olimpiacos in Greece. He has also played for Inter and Porto.
Assuming Iran still has a government preventing the football team from attending – something that looks increasingly likely as the regime is holding strong and even counter attacking despite the destructive air strikes on their military capacity – then withdrawing their team actually solves FIFA a problem, both with their US government hosts and with their own qualification play-offs scheduled for later this month.
The most likely replacement for Iran would be Iraq who currently occupy a play-off spot but because of the conflict have asked FIFA for a postponement as their Iraq-based players cannot currently travel safely because of the conflict.
Qualifying Iraq directly would reopen the play-off spot with the UAE, also under attack from Iran, being the most likely replacement on AFC 2026 qualification ranking.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1773282875labto1773282875ofdlr1773282875owedi1773282875sni@n1773282875osloh1773282875cin.l1773282875uap1773282875
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