{"id":1830944,"date":"2026-03-17T12:25:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1830944"},"modified":"2026-03-17T12:25:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:25:20","slug":"iran-wants-world-cup-games-moved-from-us-to-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1830944","title":{"rendered":"Iran wants World Cup games moved from US to Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/71990416_6.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5AXjV<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
Football is hugely popular in Iran, with the national team having qualified for each of the last 4 men’s World CupsImage: Vahid Salemi\/AP\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Iran<\/a> is pushing to move its 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup<\/a> matches out of the US.<\/p>\n

Iran’s football chief, Mehdi Taj, said the country\u00a0was in talks with world football’s governing body\u00a0to relocate its games to Mexico, citing security concerns after remarks by US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

“When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America,” Taj said in comments posted on the Iranian Embassy’s X account.<\/p>\n

Trump warns of safety risks for players<\/h2>\n

The push follows comments by Trump last week on his Truth Social platform. He said that while Iranian players would be allowed to compete<\/a>, he added it would not be “appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran’s sports minister has also previously suggested Iran could boycott this year’s tournament<\/a> altogether amid ongoing joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Iran
Iran’s team is scheduled to play across US cities starting June 15Image: Sebastian Frej\/IMAGO<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Starting on June, the World Cup will be staged across the US, Mexico and Canada, with Iran currently scheduled to play across US stadiums.<\/p>\n

Under current plans, Iran’s base camp would be in Tucson, Arizona, with its opening match against New Zealand set for the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

FIFA relocation unlikely, New Zealand execs say<\/h2>\n

New Zealand Football chief Andrew Pragnell told local media Tuesday he doubted FIFA would change the fixtures, while national coach Darren Bazeley said preparations remained unchanged.<\/p>\n

“Right now, we’re preparing as if we’re playing Iran,” he said. “They qualified. We were drawn against them. And until we’re told otherwise, that’s the match.”<\/p>\n

FIFA has not publicly commented on Iran’s request to relocate matches.<\/p>\n

Iranian football under the spotlight<\/h2>\n

The uncertainty adds to headlines surrounding Iranian football in recent weeks. Previously, five of the seven women players granted asylum in Australia<\/a> during the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup reportedly chose to\u00a0return to Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Iranian women’s soccer team did not sing the Iranian national anthem at their first match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in AustraliaImage: Izhar Khan\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The offer followed a pre-match protest in which some players stayed silent during the national anthem \u2014 a gesture that prompted Iranian state television to label them “wartime traitors.”<\/p>\n

Edited by: Rob Turner<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Iran<\/a> is pushing to move its 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup<\/a> matches out of the US.<\/p>\n

Iran’s football chief, Mehdi Taj, said the country\u00a0was in talks with world football’s governing body\u00a0to relocate its games to Mexico, citing security concerns after remarks by US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

“When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America,” Taj said in comments posted on the Iranian Embassy’s X account.<\/p>\n

Trump warns of safety risks for players<\/h2>\n

The push follows comments by Trump last week on his Truth Social platform. He said that while Iranian players would be allowed to compete<\/a>, he added it would not be “appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran’s sports minister has also previously suggested Iran could boycott this year’s tournament<\/a> altogether amid ongoing joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Iran
Iran’s team is scheduled to play across US cities starting June 15Image: Sebastian Frej\/IMAGO<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Starting on June, the World Cup will be staged across the US, Mexico and Canada, with Iran currently scheduled to play across US stadiums.<\/p>\n

Under current plans, Iran’s base camp would be in Tucson, Arizona, with its opening match against New Zealand set for the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

FIFA relocation unlikely, New Zealand execs say<\/h2>\n

New Zealand Football chief Andrew Pragnell told local media Tuesday he doubted FIFA would change the fixtures, while national coach Darren Bazeley said preparations remained unchanged.<\/p>\n

“Right now, we’re preparing as if we’re playing Iran,” he said. “They qualified. We were drawn against them. And until we’re told otherwise, that’s the match.”<\/p>\n

FIFA has not publicly commented on Iran’s request to relocate matches.<\/p>\n

Iranian football under the spotlight<\/h2>\n

The uncertainty adds to headlines surrounding Iranian football in recent weeks. Previously, five of the seven women players granted asylum in Australia<\/a> during the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup reportedly chose to\u00a0return to Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Iranian women’s soccer team did not sing the Iranian national anthem at their first match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in AustraliaImage: Izhar Khan\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The offer followed a pre-match protest in which some players stayed silent during the national anthem \u2014 a gesture that prompted Iranian state television to label them “wartime traitors.”<\/p>\n

Edited by: Rob Turner<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Iran<\/a> is pushing to move its 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup<\/a> matches out of the US.<\/p>\n

Iran’s football chief, Mehdi Taj, said the country\u00a0was in talks with world football’s governing body\u00a0to relocate its games to Mexico, citing security concerns after remarks by US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

“When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America,” Taj said in comments posted on the Iranian Embassy’s X account.<\/p>\n

The push follows comments by Trump last week on his Truth Social platform. He said that while Iranian players would be allowed to compete<\/a>, he added it would not be “appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran’s sports minister has also previously suggested Iran could boycott this year’s tournament<\/a> altogether amid ongoing joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Starting on June, the World Cup will be staged across the US, Mexico and Canada, with Iran currently scheduled to play across US stadiums.<\/p>\n

Under current plans, Iran’s base camp would be in Tucson, Arizona, with its opening match against New Zealand set for the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Football chief Andrew Pragnell told local media Tuesday he doubted FIFA would change the fixtures, while national coach Darren Bazeley said preparations remained unchanged.<\/p>\n

“Right now, we’re preparing as if we’re playing Iran,” he said. “They qualified. We were drawn against them. And until we’re told otherwise, that’s the match.”<\/p>\n

FIFA has not publicly commented on Iran’s request to relocate matches.<\/p>\n

The uncertainty adds to headlines surrounding Iranian football in recent weeks. Previously, five of the seven women players granted asylum in Australia<\/a> during the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup reportedly chose to\u00a0return to Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The offer followed a pre-match protest in which some players stayed silent during the national anthem \u2014 a gesture that prompted Iranian state television to label them “wartime traitors.”<\/p>\n

Edited by: Rob Turner<\/em><\/p>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/iran-wants-world-cup-games-moved-from-us-to-mexico\/a-76394633″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/71990416_6.jpg”] https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5AXjV Football is hugely popular in Iran, with the national team having qualified for each of the last 4 men’s World CupsImage: Vahid Salemi\/AP\/picture alliance Iran is pushing to move its 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup matches out of the US. Iran’s football chief, Mehdi Taj, said the country\u00a0was in talks with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,74],"class_list":["post-1830944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dw-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1830944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1830944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1830944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1830944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}