When Iran qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in March 2025, few anticipated the extraordinary sequence of events that would follow. More than a year later, the team is preparing to compete in a tournament co-hosted by the United States — the same country that, alongside Israel, conducted military strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader and triggered an ongoing conflict. The result is arguably the most politically and logistically fraught World Cup participation in the tournament's history.
The visa saga alone encapsulates the tension. US entry visas for Iran's players were only approved on the eve of their departure, while several members of staff — including Mehdi Taj, the head of Iran's football federation — were denied entry entirely. The US State Department confirmed that visas had been issued for players and essential support personnel, but pointedly warned it would not allow the Iranian team to "abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences." Iran's ambassador to Mexico added a further constraint: under the conditions of the approved visas, players must enter and exit US territory on the same day as each match. With FIFA's approval, Iran relocated its base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, just across the Mexican border, and the squad has been conducting its pre-tournament preparations in Turkey. All three of Iran's group-stage matches — against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, and Egypt in Seattle — will be played on US soil.
The backdrop to these logistics is more than four decades of hostility between Tehran and Washington. Since the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran and the hostage crisis of 1979, the two countries have had no formal diplomatic relations. Football has occasionally offered a rare point of contact: the most celebrated moment came at the 1998 World Cup in France, when Iran defeated the United States 2-1 in a match freighted with political symbolism. Iranian players presented white roses to their American counterparts before kick-off, and the fixture became one of the most iconic in World Cup history. The two sides met again in Qatar in 2022, with the US winning 1-0. Under the tournament's newly expanded 48-team format, a knockout-stage meeting in 2026 remains possible.
Back in Tehran, public sentiment is more divided than in previous tournaments. On a street lined with sports shops, a ten-year-old girl named Helma was already wearing her national colours and declaring Iran would finish first. But nearby, 17-year-old shop employee Houman noted that Portugal jerseys were outselling Iran's, with Spain and Brazil also popular. "This World Cup is different for Iranians," he said. "I don't see the same enthusiasm as past editions." A 42-year-old photographer named Shervin was more blunt: "In Iran, no one truly cares about football now." The national team — known as Team Melli — has historically been one of the few institutions capable of uniting Iranians across political lines. That consensus began to fracture during the 2022 World Cup, which coincided with nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. The 2026 tournament comes just months after another crackdown in which human rights groups say thousands were killed.
Despite the gloom, not all hope has faded. Iran has qualified for seven World Cups without ever advancing beyond the group stage, and some fans see the expanded format as a genuine opportunity to make history. "They got lucky with the draw. They can make it out of the group stage this year," said 18-year-old Mohammad Pahlevan. For a team arriving under this confluence of war, diplomatic isolation, visa uncertainty and domestic division, reaching the knockout rounds would represent far more than a footballing achievement.