FIFA rejects Iran’s request to move World Cup matches from US to Mexico

The 2026 World Cup matches will be played as per schedule announced last year, the football organisation says.The world’s top football organisation, FIFA, has said the 2026 World Cup matches will take place per the schedule announced last year, shutting down Iran’s hopes of having its matches moved from the United States to Mexico due to the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.“FIFA is in regular contact with all participating member associations, including Iran, to discuss planning for the FIFA-world-cup-2026" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="1548" data-entity-type="event">FIFA World Cup 2026,” the organisation’s statement said. “FIFA is looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on 6 December 2025.”Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Iran cannot participate in the FIFA World Cup, sports minister sayslist 2 of 3What are the five key talking points surrounding the FIFA-world-cup-2026" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="1548" data-entity-type="event">FIFA World Cup 2026?list 3 of 3Trump says not ‘appropriate’ for Iran to participate in the World Cup in USend of listFollowing the outbreak of the war on February 28, Iran’s participation in the games has been cast in doubt.Last week, US President Donald Trump said Iran was welcome to come to his country for its matches, but added: “I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”In response to Trump’s comments, Iran’s football team said in a post on social media that “no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup”.More recently, on Monday, Iranian football chief Mehdi Taj said on social media that “when Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America”.“We are currently negotiating with FIFA to hold Iran’s matches in the World Cup in Mexico,” Taj said.Iran’s Ambassador to Mexico Abolfazl Pasandideh also condemned on Monday Washington’s “lack of cooperation regarding visa issuance and the provisions of logistical support” for the Iranian delegation.