Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated on Monday that her country has “no issue” with hosting Iran’s World Cup team, following the squad’s decision to move its training base from the United States to Mexico for the summer soccer competition.
The team is still scheduled to play its matches in the U.S., but its new base has been relocated to Tijuana, Mexico, situated just south of San Diego, California, as confirmed by Iran’s soccer federation.
President Sheinbaum clarified at a news conference Monday that she was told by a FIFA representative that the U.S. was reluctant to have the Iranian soccer team spend time outside of their scheduled games on U.S. territory.
“The United States doesn’t want the Iranian national team to stay overnight in the United States,” Sheinbaum told reporters. She said a FIFA representative had then asked, “Can they stay overnight in Mexico?”
“And we said, ‘Yes, no problem. We have no issue with that’,” she said.
Iran’s soccer team is slated to play matches in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and against Belgium six days later, before facing Egypt on June 26 in Seattle.
Before the war broke out, the team was originally planned to set up its base in Tucson, Arizona. But with tensions simmering, Iran’s team moved its base to Tijuana in Mexico, Sheinbaum said, confirming an announcement by the Iranian federation over the weekend. The federation said the Iranians had received approval from FIFA, though it has not confirmed the move.
Teams use base camps to train before and after matches. This year’s World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 and will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The possibility of a move had simmered for months in the uncertainty surrounding the war in the Middle East and security concerns. U.S. sanctions on Iran were likely to only make the team’s stay in the U.S. more complex.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement on Monday that President Donald Trump had made it clear the Iranian team was welcome to participate in the tournament.
The department’s statement did not address where the team might stay, or Sheinbaum’s comments.
Sheinbaum said that her government was working with FIFA to hash out all the details before the competition.
