World Cup
Iran participating in World Cup, FIFA president confirms
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on April 15 that Iran will “for sure” participate in the 2026 World Cup despite the Middle East war.
Infantino said he was recently in Antalya, Turkey, to visit with the Iranian team at their training camp and said the team wants to participate in the World Cup.
“Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful one, which would definitely help,” Infantino said on broadcaster CNBC.
“But Iran has to come, they represent their people, they have qualified, the players want to play,” he said of the team’s upcoming matches scheduled in the United States in June.
Iran’s participation in the global tournament had been thrown into doubt by the war with the United States and Israel that broke out on February 28
“Sports should be outside of politics,” Infantino said.
“If there’s nobody else that believes in building bridges and keeping them intact and together, we are doing the job,” he continued.
Iran, one of the first teams to qualify for the World Cup – which is projected to generate more than US$11 billion (S$14 billion) in revenue – is scheduled to play all three of its group stages in the US.
Iran is slated to open against New Zealand on June 15, then face Belgium on June 21, with both matches in Los Angeles. On June 26, Iran is scheduled to play Egypt in Seattle. Should Iran advance, the rest of its games would also be held in the US.
Iran requested FIFA move its games to Mexico, which is hosting games along with the US and Canada, but was denied.
A national team has not withdrawn from a FIFA World Cup since 1950, the first tournament held after World War II.
The cost of tickets and the safety of the millions of fans travelling from all over the world have also been significant concerns for organisers.
Amid “an unprecedented demand for tickets,” Infantino said there were more than 500 million ticket requests for the June 11 to July 19 tournament.
“Security is obviously key, it’s crucial, it’s important,” he said. “You can, of course, always hear and read there are bans or this and that, but the fact is, we received ticket requests from all 211 countries. Everybody’s coming, and everybody wants to come.”
So for Infantino, what would qualify as a successful World Cup?
“A win would be that we have a successful World Cup from a security point of view, so no incidents,” he said. “And from a football point of view, great matches, great games, excitement for the people.”
-AFP/Reuters
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World Cup
US government shutdown has slowed World Cup security planning, homeland security official says
The U.S. government has released all funds allocated for security at the soccer World Cup, but the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security has affected planning and coordination, a department official told a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
“A lot of the planning efforts underway for the World Cup have been slowed down, have been delayed due to the lapse in appropriations, individuals being furloughed,” Christopher Tomney, director of the DHS Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness, told the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Intelligence briefings reviewed by Reuters last month warned of the potential for extremists and criminals to target the World Cup, with officials working on preparations for the soccer tournament sounding the alarm on a delay in allocation of approved security funds.
Tomney said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has now distributed the $625 million earmarked for security. The 48-team tournament, one of the world’s biggest sporting events, will be held in June and July across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“All the funding has been released now. FEMA GO is up and operational,” he said, referring to the disaster agency’s grants management system.
The DHS shutdown has crossed the two-month mark, with lawmakers in Congress unable to agree on legislation to fund the agency in the wake of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Trump signed an order earlier this month to pay every DHS employee.
When asked how specifically the shutdown has hampered the agency’s ability to organize the event, Tomney pointed to the departure of hundreds of transportation security officers from the Transportation Security Administration.
“We just can’t replace that expertise overnight. It has hindered our coordination with state and locals,” he said.
-Reuters
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With public transit costs for getting to and from World Cup games repeatedly reaching or exceeding $100 each way, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill is asking FIFA to help subsidise the expense.
According to The Athletic, train tickets from New York’s Penn Station to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., will top $100 for World Cup games. The standard fare for that route is $12.90.
“I won’t stick N.J. commuters with that tab for years to come, that’s not fair,” Sherrill posted on X. “FIFA should pay for the rides, but if they don’t, I’m not going to let N.J. commuters be taken for one.”
The official train ticket cost has yet to be announced, but The Athletic reported that Sherrill, the local World Cup host committee and NJ Transit all declined to deny that it would be above $100.
Sherrill tweeted, “We have inherited an agreement in which FIFA doesn’t contribute a single dollar toward transportation for the World Cup. And while NJ Transit is left with a $48 million bill to safely transport 40,000 fans from the stadium to wherever they’re headed, FIFA is generating $11 billion from this World Cup.
“I’m not going to burden New Jersey taxpayers with that bill for years.”
A day earlier, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted, “The World Cup should be as affordable and accessible as possible. Charging over $100 for a short train ride sounds awfully high to me.”
The backlash about New York’s transportation pricing comes in the wake of news regarding similar costs in Massachusetts. Train tickets from Boston to Foxborough, Mass., for World Cup games will cost $80, and bus rides will be priced at up to $95.
-Reuters
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Senior officials within FIFA are considering urging its president, Gianni Infantino, to formally ask Donald Trump for a nationwide suspension of immigration enforcement raids during the 2026 World Cup in the United States.
The proposal, discussed at high levels within FIFA in recent weeks, centres on concerns that ongoing operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could disrupt the tournament atmosphere and deter international fans from attending matches across host cities.
Security Concerns and Political Context
Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has intensified immigration enforcement, with ICE conducting large-scale raids in several American cities. According to data cited by The Washington Post, ICE made roughly 1,000 arrests daily in the six weeks following a high-profile incident in January, with 42 per cent of those detained reportedly having no criminal record.
The crackdown has sparked protests and, in some cases, violent confrontations, raising questions about the potential impact of such operations during a global sporting event expected to draw millions of visitors.
ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, previously indicated the agency would play a “key part” in World Cup security, primarily through Homeland Security investigations. However, labour unions and U.S. lawmakers have expressed fears that enforcement activities could extend to areas around stadiums and fan zones.
FIFA’s Internal Deliberations
According to sources familiar with the discussions, FIFA executives initially explored limiting ICE’s presence around match venues in the 11 designated U.S. host cities. However, the scope of the proposal expanded to include entire cities and eventually the full duration of the 39-day tournament across all host states.
Infantino is said to be open to making a direct appeal to Trump, leveraging what insiders describe as a close working relationship between the two leaders. The FIFA president has attended multiple events alongside Trump and recently established a FIFA office in Trump Tower in New York.
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