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Iran makes definitive ‘boycott’ United States FIFA World Cup decision
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The upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup finds itself in a period of several global conflicts. Recently, the Middle East has found itself the victim of a different kind of turmoil. Iran 's World Cup participation is currently questionable after the USA and Israel's conflict with them .
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While Trump recently shared his response on Iran attending the World Cup in the USA, Iran football president, Mehdi Taj, made a request about moving their games to another host nation, Mexico . Shortly after, the Mexican president addressed the situation and responded to it.
Now, in another statement issued by Taj, on Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2026, via ESPN, revealed that while Iran plans on participating and playing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup , they have no intentions of playing it in the USA and want to "boycott" the country. "We will be preparing for the World Cup. We will boycott the United States, but we will not boycott the World Cup."
On Thursday, Mar. 19, 2026, FIFA President Gianni Infantino publicly addressed the ongoing conflicts and claimed that they have plans to conduct the upcoming as planned and scheduled.
"FIFA is looking forward to all teams participating at the FIFA World Cup to compete in a spirit of fair play and mutual respect. We have a schedule," he added. "We will soon have the 48 competing teams confirmed, and we want the FIFA World Cup to go ahead as scheduled."
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The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to take place across three countries in North America: the USA, Canada , and Mexico. The tournament will kick off on Jun. 11th, and Iran will compete in Group G alongside Belgium , Egypt , and New Zealand . They are due to play their first game against New Zealand on Jun. 15 in Los Angeles. They are scheduled to play another game in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and their final group game in Seattle.
Related: Mexico President responds to Iran's FIFA World Cup relocation request
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