Iran Urges FIFA to Move 2026 World Cup Matches From U.S. to Mexico, Citing War and Security Fears

Iran is pressing global soccer authorities to move its 2026 World Cup group-stage matches out of the United States and into co-host Mexico, citing war, security fears and hostile political rhetoric from Washington. So far, soccer’s governing body has made clear it does not intend to redraw the map for a single team.

Tehran seeks Mexico venues

The Islamic Republic is scheduled to play all three of its group games on U.S. soil next year, with two matches at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area and a third at Lumen Field in Seattle. But since U.S. and Israeli airstrikes began hitting targets in Iran on Feb. 28 — killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures — officials in Tehran have questioned how their national team can appear in a tournament largely hosted by a country that is now a wartime adversary.

Iran’s sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, said on state television this month that, after the attacks, there are “no conditions which allow us to participate in the World Cup.” The president of Iran’s football federation, Mehdi Taj, has taken a slightly different line, insisting Iran wants to play in the tournament but not in the United States.

“We will boycott the United States but not the World Cup,” Taj said in comments circulated by Iranian media and amplified by the country’s embassy in Mexico City.

The embassy has said Iran is in talks with FIFA about moving its three group matches from American venues to stadiums in Mexico, the other main co-host alongside Canada. Iranian officials have framed the request as a matter of safety for players and fans, pointing in part to remarks from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump, who once told FIFA that Iranian players would be welcome at the 2026 tournament, has more recently said he cannot guarantee their security if they come. In an interview this month, he said it would not be “appropriate” for the Iranian team to travel to the United States “for their own life and safety.”

Taj has used those comments to bolster Iran’s case.

“When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to the United States,” he said, according to a translation shared by the Iranian embassy in Mexico.

FIFA signals no special changes

FIFA has not acknowledged receiving a formal written petition from Iran. But in a statement issued from its headquarters in Zurich and quoted by multiple outlets on March 17, the organization said it was “in regular contact with all participating member associations, including (the Islamic Republic of) Iran, to discuss planning for the FIFA World Cup 2026.”

“FIFA is looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on Dec. 6, 2025,” the statement added.

People familiar with the organization’s thinking describe that language as a clear signal that no special venue changes are envisaged. The 2026 World Cup is the first to feature 48 teams and 104 matches, spread across 16 cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The match calendar and host stadiums were finalized late last year, and FIFA has reported millions of ticket applications since then.

Iran has been placed in Group G alongside Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. According to the official schedule, Team Melli is due to open against New Zealand on June 15 at “Los Angeles Stadium,” the World Cup name for SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. It returns to the same venue on June 21 to face Belgium, before traveling north to meet Egypt at Seattle’s Lumen Field on June 26.

Moving all three matches to Mexico would mean reworking that group’s logistics while leaving the rest of the tournament untouched — a step tournament organizers say would be unprecedented. In past decades, FIFA has relocated qualifying games to neutral venues or stripped entire tournaments from host countries years in advance, but it has not shifted a single team’s set of finals matches between co-hosts once tickets have been sold.

Mexico acknowledges discussions

The Mexican government has acknowledged that the issue is on the table, at least in principle. Asked about Iran’s request at a regular news conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Iranian and FIFA officials were “discussing with FIFA whether it’s feasible because they were going to hold the games in the United States.”

“They are looking into whether they can hold them in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said. “Mexico has relations with all countries in the world. We’ll see what FIFA decides and then we’ll announce it.”

Any such change would require the agreement of FIFA and the three host nations. It would also raise complex questions about security, commercial contracts and ticketing in the U.S. host cities currently slated to stage Iran’s games.

In Los Angeles, which has one of the largest Iranian diasporas outside Iran, the prospect of Iran’s national team playing at SoFi Stadium was already expected to draw intense interest — and possibly political demonstrations. Iranian exiles in Southern California, many of them sharply opposed to the Tehran government, have staged large protests in recent years, including during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Security officials in Seattle are also planning for a politically sensitive event. A match involving Iran there would likely attract both supporters and opponents of the Islamic Republic, in addition to fans of Egypt and neutral spectators.

Iranian authorities say their concerns go beyond the risk of street protests. The country’s leaders have publicly discussed the possibility of attacks on officials, arrests or legal actions against individuals close to the regime, and potential defections by players or staff once inside the United States. Human rights groups and opposition figures, meanwhile, argue that any Iranian squad that travels to the U.S. could face pressure from both the state and its critics.

What happens if Iran refuses to play?

Inside Iran, the dispute has exposed a tension between political imperatives and sporting ambitions. Donyamali’s statement that Iran “cannot compete” at the World Cup under current conditions played to hard-liners who view appearing on U.S. soil during an air campaign as unacceptable. Taj, who also serves as a vice president of the Asian Football Confederation, has tried to preserve the team’s place in the tournament by seeking a compromise through Mexico.

For FIFA, the immediate question is how strictly to enforce its own framework. Tournament regulations allow the body to sanction or disqualify teams that refuse to play scheduled matches without force majeure, and to award 3-0 forfeits to opponents. They do not spell out a mechanism to compel host nations to offer alternative venues in a different country for a single team.

Officials have not said publicly what would happen to Group G if Iran ultimately refused to travel or was barred from entering the United States. Continental playoff matches later this month are expected to determine which nation would be first in line to replace Iran if a vacancy emerged, but tournament planners would still have to address tickets already sold for the three fixtures labeled as Iran’s.

A long history of politics on the pitch

The unfolding standoff comes against a long history of politically charged meetings between Iran and the United States on the soccer field. Iran defeated the U.S. team 2-1 at the 1998 World Cup in France in a match widely described as symbolic détente. The two sides met again in 2022 in Qatar, where the United States won 1-0 amid nationwide protests inside Iran.

This time, there is no Iran–U.S. game on the schedule. Instead, the central question is whether Iran will set foot in the host country at all.

With less than 15 months until kickoff in Los Angeles, Iranian officials are still calling publicly for their World Cup to be moved south of the border. FIFA, intent on protecting a tightly calibrated schedule and avoiding a precedent that could invite similar demands from other nations, is signaling that the map will not change.

That leaves Iran, its players and fans facing a stark choice: accept a World Cup staged in a country whose warplanes are striking their own, or stay home and watch the tournament unfold without them.