Iran to boycott FIFA 2026 World Cup draw in US over visa dispute

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being staged successful United States, Canada and Mexico, with Washington, DC hosting December’s draw.

Iran is to boycott adjacent week’s World Cup finals gully successful Washington due to the fact that the United States refused to assistance visas to respective members of the delegation, the Iranian shot federation announced connected Friday.

“We person informed FIFA that the decisions taken person thing to bash with sports, and the members of the Iranian delegation volition not enactment successful the World Cup draw,” the federation’s spokesperson told authorities television.

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Iranian sports website Varzesh 3 had claimed connected Tuesday that the US had declined to contented visas to respective members of the delegation, including the president of the federation, Mehdi Taj.

On Thursday, Taj had denounced the determination arsenic being a governmental one.

“We person told the caput of FIFA, Mr [Gianni] Infantino, that it is purely a governmental presumption and that FIFA indispensable archer them [US] to desist from this behaviour,” added Taj.

According to Varzesh 3, 4 members of the delegation, including Amir Ghalenoei, the coach, had been granted visas for the gully connected December 5.

Iran qualified for the sport’s quadrennial showpiece successful March, guaranteeing them a 4th successive quality and seventh successful all.

They person yet to advancement to the knockout stages, but determination was unconfined joyousness erstwhile successful the 1998 finals successful France, Iran bushed the USA 2-1 successful their radical match.

The US avenged that by beating Iran 1-0 successful the 2022 edition.

The US – which is co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico – and Iran person been astatine loggerheads for much than 4 decades.

They had, though, been holding high-level atomic talks betwixt Tehran and Washington that had begun successful April, during which the 2 sides were astatine likelihood implicit Iran’s close to enrich uranium – which Tehran defends arsenic “inalienable”.

However, they ended when, successful mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing run against Iran, triggering a 12-day warfare that the US concisely joined, with strikes connected cardinal Iranian atomic facilities.