Iran will not participate in the World Cup this summer amid the ongoing U.S. and Israeli-led strikes on the nation, the country’s Minister of Sport and Youth, Ahmad Donyamali has confirmed.
Donyamali made the announcement on Wednesday via the official state Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), calling the conditions “not suitable” for Iranian participation in the global football carnival.
“What has happened in the past few months shows that the conditions for our national football team to participate in the World Cup do not exist and this team will not participate in the upcoming event,” Donyamali said in a statement, according to IRNA.
Also in a separate statement to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) on Wednesday, Donyamali said “a rogue country is hosting the World Cup,” adding that “we expect FIFA to react to this.”
The ISNA quoted Donyamali as saying: “Given that a corrupt government has come and assassinated our leader, we are not in a position to attend the World Cup. Our team members have no security at all to attend the World Cup.”
The United States is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico, with matches being played across all three North American nations. Iran’s National soccer team was slated to kick off their World Cup competition on June 15 in Los Angeles, with a match against New Zealand, the first of three scheduled group play matches. For now, the FIFA website still lists the match on its official schedule for that day.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump met with FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Tuesday and assured him that the Iranian soccer team is welcome to participate at this year’s World Cup, a White House official and a source familiar with the conversation told ABC News.
Competent sources described it as a “long” meeting that included the White House’s World Cup Task Force Executive Director Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
In a related development, the Iranian women’s soccer team has also faced uncertainty due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Seven members of the Iranian women’s national soccer team were granted asylum in Australia this week, as international concern grew around the team’s fate. The Iranian women had been playing in a tournament there when the U.S. war with Iran started.
The team had faced criticism from Iranian state media after some of its players refused to sing along with their country’s national anthem ahead of their March 2 match against South Korea.
As events continue to unfold, FIFA is yet to issue an official statement on the Iranian Sports Minister announcement.
