World Cup
FIFA Faces Selection Puzzle as Iran Threatens World Cup Exit
The statement from Minister of Sport Ahmad Donyamali on Wednesday that Iran could not take part in a World Cup being co-hosted by the United States offered the clearest indication yet of the potential for a first withdrawal from global soccer’s showpiece event in the modern era.
While that has not officially happened at this point, minds at soccer’s global governing body FIFA must now address more urgently the prospect of having to replace the Iranians in the tournament kicking off in the U.S., Mexico and Canada in early June.
Donyamali said it would be impossible for Iran to take part after air attacks launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a region-wide conflict that shows no sign of abating.
While it always seemed counter-intuitive that Iran would take part in a World Cup while at war with one of the co-hosts, FIFA were on Tuesday still clearly banking on Team Melli lining up for their first group game against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15.
Only a few hours before Donyamali’s statement, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino trumpeted an assurance from Trump that Iran were “welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States”.
A withdrawal would be governed by Article Six of the World Cup regulations, which, while stipulating a series of financial penalties for such a move, also states that FIFA would be at liberty to call up any nation it chooses to fill the void.
“There’s no modern precedent for this and, according to FIFA’s own tournament regulations, they have full discretion to do whatever they want in the case of a team withdrawing,” James Kitching, FIFA’s former Director of Football Regulatory, told Reuters.
“That means, for example, a team that withdraws wouldn’t have to be replaced by a team from the same confederation, or even replaced at all. Whether either of those scenarios would be politically tenable is a different question.
“The tournament regulations also provide disciplinary sanctions for any federation whose team withdraws. However, if Iran withdrew for any reason related to this current conflict, I doubt FIFA would impose any sanctions given the circumstances.”
The Iranians qualified for a fourth successive World Cup by topping Group A in the third round of Asian qualifying last year, and a replacement from the world’s most populous continent would make most sense, even if that is not as straightforward as it may seem.
TRAVEL FREEZE COMPLICATES IRAQI PREPARATIONS
Iraq are due to participate in the intercontinental playoffs in Mexico this month for a spot at the finals, while the United Arab Emirates, which lost to the Iraqis in an eliminator in November, have also been mentioned as a potential candidate.
The travel freeze in the Middle East caused by the conflict is impacting Iraq’s ability to get to Mexico and prepare for their match against either Bolivia or Suriname on March 31.
Iraq coach Graham Arnold has proposed that FIFA postpone that fixture until closer to the finals, saying that would be fair to the Iraqis and allow the Iran situation to play out further.
“Let Bolivia play Suriname this month and then a week before the World Cup, we play the winner in the US – the winner of that game stays on, and the loser goes home,” Arnold told the Australian Associated Press on Monday.
“In my opinion, it also gives FIFA more time to decide what Iran is going to do. If Iran withdraws, we go into the World Cup, and it gives the UAE, who we beat in qualifying, the chance to prepare for either Bolivia or Suriname.”
FIFA has yet to comment on Donyamali’s statement while a source at the Asian Football Confederation said it “is closely monitoring the situation and remains in contact with FIFA” over the potential replacement of Iran.
“Matters relating to the World Cup fall under FIFA’s remit,” the source said. “At this stage, it would be premature to speculate further.”
World Cup places are much coveted by the confederations, however, and it is likely that the AFC would lobby hard for the replacement to come from Asia.
With Europe’s final participants in the World Cup also decided at the end of March, Kitching believes FIFA will not make any firm decisions until early April.
“I would expect a decision is not going to be made until after the final playoffs are finished, and for FIFA to take a pragmatic and consultative approach to the situation,” he said.
-Reuters
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Dozens of U.S. lawmakers have called on FIFA to lower the cost of tickets for the 2026 World Cup, saying in a letter sent to the global soccer governing body this week that the use of dynamic pricing has turned the sporting event into an exclusionary enterprise at the expense of fans.
The letter, which was orchestrated by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and signed by another 68 Members of Congress, was addressed to FIFA President Gianni Infantino and said American fans and international visitors for the June 11-July 19 World Cup should have access to affordable tickets.
“The extreme high demand for World Cup tickets should not be a green light for price gouging at the expense of the people who make the World Cup the most-watched sporting event in the world,” the group said in the letter that was shared on Wednesday.
FIFA did not immediately respond when asked to comment on the letter that was dated March 10 and addressed to Infantino.
Ticket prices for the World Cup being held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico have become as much a headline as the matches themselves, especially when comparing their face value to the ticket pricing summary that was originally listed in the bid book by the three host nations.
FIFA is using dynamic pricing for the first time at this year’s World Cup, which is a system that allows for the cost of tickets to fluctuate based on a variety of factors including real-time demand, inventory and the popularity of an event. Tickets on FIFA’s official resale platform have skyrocketed.
“This widely-criticised decision to abandon the traditional static pricing model prioritises revenue maximisation over accessibility for fans and host community residents,” the letter said.
“Despite host cities’ cooperation in bringing the vision of the largest, most global World Cup in history to fruition, the consequences of dynamic pricing will make the 2026 FWC the most financially exclusionary and inaccessible to date.”
The lawmakers want FIFA to “review and reconsider” the tournament policies that they say have created insurmountable challenges to fans and host cities, some of which they argue have been forced to scale back or privatise fan festivals.
Due to backlash over exorbitant prices, FIFA introduced a small number of $60 tickets that are tucked high in the top corners of stadiums and are very limited in number compared to the other categories.
In their letter, the lawmakers asked if FIFA will redistributed unallocated bands of tickets at more affordable prices, preventing price inflation as teams advance, reconsidering dynamic pricing in favour of a static model for future tournaments, and giving host cities more flexibility to fund and host fan festivals for those unable to attend matches.
“We urge FIFA to take immediate corrective action to address the harms caused by its use of dynamic pricing, which has transformed the world’s largest sporting event into an exclusionary, profit-driven enterprise at the direct expense of fans, host communities, and public taxpayers,” the letter said.
-Reuters
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Iran cannot participate in the 2026 World Cup after co-host, the U.S. launched airstrikes alongside Israel, Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali said on Wednesday.
The attacks killed the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and triggered a region-wide conflict.
“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” the minister told state television.
The 48-team World Cup will be held in the U.S., Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
“Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist,” Donyamali said.
“Given the malicious actions they have carried out against Iran, they have forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people. Therefore, we certainly cannot have such a presence.”
More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes began on February 28, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani.
IRAN DRAWN TO PLAY IN LA AND SEATTLE
Iran are grouped with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand.
All three of their Group G matches are scheduled to take place in the U.S., two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Iran, who dominated the Asian qualifying rounds to qualify for the tournament in March last year, was the only nation missing from a FIFA planning summit for World Cup participants held last week in Atlanta.
There was no immediate comment from the Iranian Football Federation or world soccer’s governing body FIFA.
FIFA regulations state that any team that withdraws from the tournament “no later than 30 days before the first match” will be fined at least 250,000 Swiss francs ($320,800).
“Disciplinary sanctions may include the expulsion of the participating member association concerned from subsequent FIFA competitions and/or the replacement of the participating member association with another member association,” FIFA’s regulations say.
“The FIFA Council or the relevant committee may decide, in particular, to replace the member association in question with another association.”
Iran had selected Tucson’s sprawling Kino Sports Complex as the team’s base camp and 18 months of preparation hang in the balance with a potential economic hit in Arizona.
There is also the question of tickets to World Cup games involving Iran. Should Iran boycott the tournament, Iranian fans who bought tickets for eye-watering prices may be tempted to sell them on the huge resale market.
INFANTINO SAYS TRUMP WELCOMES IRAN TEAM
Earlier, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he had met U.S. President Donald Trump, who told him he welcomed Iran’s participation in the World Cup.
Trump had previously said “I really don’t care” if Iran participated or not, but Infantino said he had a productive discussion with the president.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino said.
A source in Tehran familiar with the matter said that as well as Iran’s decision not to attend the World Cup, warm-up games were not possible because of the war.
Earlier this week, Australia granted humanitarian visas to five Iranian women soccer players after they sought asylum, fearing persecution on their return home for their refusal to sing the national anthem at a Women’s Asian Cup match.
Trump had called on Australia to give asylum to members of the Iran women’s soccer team.
On Wednesday, Australian police helped two more members of the Iranian women’s soccer delegation slip their minders to claim asylum, but one has changed her mind and decided to go back to Iran, the country’s interior minister said.
-Reuters
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Angola have cancelled planned friendlies this month against Jordan and Iran, the Angolan Football Federation said in a statement.
They were due to take on Jordan and Iran, who have both qualified for the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the U.S later this year, in Dubai at the end of March.
“The aggravation of the current conflict in the Middle East and the consequent instability that is felt in the region meant a serious, prudent and responsible re-evaluation,” the statement said.
Angolan officials said they tried to seek an alternative for the match against Jordan but “after a deep and rigorous evaluation of the financial obligations involved, the required logistical and administrative effort and the respective competitive benefit for the national team, it has been concluded that playing just one game would not rationally and strategically be justified”.
Angola said they were therefore cancelling plans to play in the March international window. The country did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup and will play their next competitive fixture in September when the group qualifiers for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals kick off.
They recently fired French coach Patrice Beaumelle and have yet to appoint a successor.
-Reuters
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