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The groups for the 2026 World Cup will be drawn at random 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 the country’s delegation, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
The agency quoted Iran Football Federation spokesman Amir-Mahdi Alavi as saying officials faced visa obstacles that go beyond sporting considerations. Alavi said the federation had contacted FIFA and hoped it could help resolve the issue.
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Iran’s players celebrate after the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asia zone qualifiers group A football match between Iran and Uzbekistan, March 25, 2025 in Tehran. (AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s administration announced in June a travel ban on citizens of 12 countries, including Iran. The list also included Haiti, which qualified for the World Cup last week.
However, exemptions were promised for “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate family members traveling to the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting events as determined by the Secretary of State.”
The White House did not respond to Pakinomist Digital’s request for comment.
It is unclear whether the exemptions also apply to the World Cup draw, which takes place next Friday at the Kennedy Center.
The Iranian delegation would have been expected to be led by its FA president Mehdi Taj, one of the most senior officials in Asian football and a member of two FIFA committees overseeing the World Cup.
He is one of the vice-presidents of the Asian Football Confederation and a member of FIFA panels responsible for the governing body’s competitions plus men’s national team football in general.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino answers questions during a 2026 FIFA World Cup news conference 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 on June 11-19. July, hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Six of the teams will be determined in March next year.
The championship takes place at MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The first will be at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Games will also be played in the Boston area, but Trump has threatened to pull games out of Foxoborough, Mass., if “there are unsafe conditions.”
Trump made the suggestion while taking questions from the media during a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House and threatened to call FIFA President Gianni Infantino to have the games moved to cooperating cities, citing security concerns.
“We can take them away. I love the people of Boston. And I know the games are sold out, but the mayor is no good. There’s worse than her. At least she’s intelligent. You know, some have extremely low IQs. They bother me more. She’s intelligent, but she’s radical left,” Trump said.
US 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 there are unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni, the FIFA boss, who is phenomenal, and I would say, ‘Let’s move it to another place’, and he would do it. He wouldn’t love to do it, but he wanted to do it right. And now he’s doing it right.
Boston is currently set to host seven games when the World Cup comes to North America next summer. The schedule includes five group stage matches, a round of 32 and the first quarter-final on 9 July.
