Iran has said it is in talks with FIFA about playing its World Cup games outside of the United States after Donald Trump warned the team to stay away last week.
Iran’s soccer authorities want their games to be held in Mexico, the Iran embassy in Mexico said on Monday but it is believed that FIFA are not open to rescheduling games with less than 100 days to go until the competition begins.
‘When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America,’ Mehdi Taj, the President of the Iranian Football Federation was quoted as saying.
‘We are currently negotiating with FIFA to hold Iran’s matches in the World Cup in Mexico.’
Uncertainty over Iran’s presence has swelled since conflict broke out with the US and Israel and last Thursday, Trump spoke out about the issue on Truth Social.
The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,’ he wrote.
The Iranian soccer team is said to be pushing to play its World Cup games outside of the US
Donald Trump last week warned the team over their safety if they played in the World Cup
‘Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.’
His comments come a day after Taj seemingly confirmed the team would boycott the tournament after US and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and sparked a wave of retaliatory attacks.
Iran sports minister Ahmad Donyamal then said that there are ‘no conditions under which we can participate’ and there is ‘no possibility’ that they will feature at the tournament.
‘Since this corrupt government assassinated our leader, we have no conditions under which we can participate in the World Cup,’ Ahmad Donyamal said in a television interview on Wednesday via RTE.
‘In view of the malicious measures taken against Iran, two wars were forced upon us within eight or nine months, and several thousand of our people were killed. Therefore, we definitely have no possibility of participating in this way.’
When asked about Iran’s participation at the World Cup by Politico the previous week, US President Trump replied: ‘I really don’t care’.
Iran is scheduled to play New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt on the West Coast in June. Their first two games are due to be held at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, with the third game in Seattle, Washington.
While the World Cup is technically co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States, the vast majority of games are being staged in the US. If Iran was to advance from its group into the knockout stage, the chances are very high that they would have to then play in the US.
Trump has been dismissive of the Iran team playing as uncertaintly has grown over their status
An official withdrawal would be the first in the modern era and leave FIFA with the urgent task of finding a replacement.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Monday it had not received any notification that Iran will withdraw from the event.
‘At the end of the day, it’s the federation who should decide if they’re playing, and as of today, the federation has told us that they are going to the World Cup,’ AFC General Secretary Windsor John was quoted as saying by Reuters.
