Name: Will Iran skip this year's FIFA World Cup? | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-03-13T17:08:07.000Z
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US President Donald Trump is questioning whether Iran should take part in this year's FIFA World cup, which will be co hosted by the U.S.

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Iran's national team is due to play two matches in Los Angeles in mid June and another in Seattle later the same month.

But posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said the Iranian national soccer team is welcome to the World cup, but

I really don't believe it's appropriate that, that they be there for their own life and safety.

Let's discuss this with Alexander Abnos, Senior editor at the Guardian.

Now, President Trump seems to be suggesting there are life threatening risks facing the Iranian team.

I mean, it's really hard to say this, like many things that Donald Trump says can be really hard to parse.

Some things he says are very straightforward and some things are very, let's just say, ideologically inconsistent or inconsistent maybe within the own, within one statement.

And I think that's why this one is so hard to parse because just a couple days ago, Johnny Infantino, the president of FIFA, had said that Trump was told him that Iran was more than welcome to come to the World Cup.

And technically this is saying the same thing.

There is that line about whether or not it's appropriate they be there for their own life and safety.

It could also be maybe a reference to the Iranian women's national team who were playing in the Asian Championship in Australia when the attacks on Iran took place.

And they made a political statement by not singing the national anthem at one of their games.

This brought them under a lot of criticism in the country and caused a lot of them to feel unsafe returning, which is why six of them requested asylum before the team returned to Iran from Australia.

Maybe it's some sort of reference to that.

And that if Iran doesn't do well or make some sort of political statement while they are at the 2026 World cup, bad things could be waiting for them at home.

But that's not exactly a new story for the Iranian national team, which has faced pressure from government sources for a very, very long time.

Right now, isn't mixing politics and sports normally frowned upon?

I mean, how's the footballing world taking this?

Particularly Donald Trump suggesting that it's not appropriate for Iran to be at the World Cup.

Yeah, I mean, I think different people will take it different ways.

It sort of depends on your tolerance for politics and sport.

As you point out, I am of the opinion, and

I think people are increasingly of the opinion, that politics is.

You can't separate the two, especially at an international event like the World cup, where people are playing for their national identities, for countries, and

then you have things like this that happen.

Granted, maybe nothing quite so volatile as this, but

you've had clashes between countries at World Cups that are inherently political.

I have no problem with politics being intertwined in sports.

I think sports figures are just as reasonable a people, for the most part, as any, anybody, and

they're not geopolitics experts, but they're allowed to have an opinion and they have a platform.

This is one area where I kind of wish there were a little bit less politics in sports.

I feel the Iranian national team, they're consistently one of the strongest in Asia.

They deserve the chance to go to a World cup and play and try and do their best without any sort of political pressure on them.

That just hasn't been the case, really, for a very, very long time.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran's Minister of sports and youth also cast doubt whether the team will travel to the tournament.

This corrupt US Government has assassinated our leader.

So we are not in a position to participate in the World Cup.

Our players will not be safe in the United States.

They have imposed two wars on us in just eight or nine months, and

they have killed thousands of our people due to the wicked acts they have committed against Iran.

It is certainly not possible for us to take part in the World Cup.

Now, Alexander, could this have been a moment for Donald Trump to reassure the Iranian team to say that they would be safe in.

In the U.S. i mean, was this a missed opportunity?

I would also think that something like that would be very out of character for him and very out of character for the moment.

So I'm not surprised that he didn't say something along those lines.

The important thing to know about this statement is that Iran, as far as we know, has not officially filed anything with FIFA.

There is not an official withdrawal process that's happening right now.

As of right now, this is a very public battle of words between a country and their national federation.

And Donald Trump and his government and Gianni Ventino and FIFA are sort of in the middle right now trying to make sense of it.

And speaking of Trump and FIFA, Trump is speaking not just as the president of the US but also as the holder of FIFA's new peace prize.

Please welcome the very first winner of the FIFA Peace Prize, the 45th and 47th President of the United States of America, Mr.

Please, Mr. President, this is your prize.

There is also a beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go right now.

So just four months after receiving FIFA's Peace Prize, the host country's president is publicly criticizing a World cup participant.

Now, doesn't this sound like a PR disaster for FIFA?

I think that the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize to Donald Trump was a PR disaster from the minute it happened.

From the minute that it was announced that it was going to happen.

They didn't announce that Donald Trump was going to win it, but

it was very clear what was going to happen.

Johnny Infantino has really not been shy about cultivating a very close relationship with Trump.

It seems like he's looking, he is constantly looking for any excuse he can to be in the same room with him in the same camera shot at him.

He was just at the newly built Board of Peace meeting the other day wearing a Donald Trump hat, which some people might point out would seem to be a violation of FIFA's statutes against displays of political affiliation.

But, you know, I also think that Johnny Fantino is.

He probably feels that he is doing what he needs to do.

Trump is somebody that is very receptive to being flattered and that flattery takes very traditional forms.

So what could be better than issuing him a Peace prize conveniently timed to, what was it, a few months after he missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize?

I mean, but it's a slam dunk, as we might say here in the United States.

And I also think that Infantino has a very high capacity for taking things that might be optically not very good for these PR disasters, because at the end of the day, he needs to deliver a very revenue, not profitable, but

And in order for that to happen, he needs the full and complete cooperation of the United States government in all of these places.

And the best way to do that is to cozy up to the President.

Right, let's look at the tournament itself.

Now, Iran was drawn in group G with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand.

All three of Iran's matches are scheduled to be played in the US with two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle, which now throws the logistics of the group into question.

So, Alexander, if Iran pulls out, what options does FIFA have?

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Will Iran skip this year's FIFA World Cup? | DW News

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