Iran’s national soccer team arrived in Tijuana early on Sunday ahead of three World Cup matches in the United States, amid tensions that have turned the world’s biggest sporting event into a soft-power contest between the warring countries.

The squad touched down shortly after five a.m. (1200 ​GMT) in the Mexican city, across the border from San Diego, after an overnight flight from Turkey, where they have been training for the ‌past three weeks.

As the team’s bus pulled away from Tijuana airport, it paused briefly so members of the federation could wave to about 20 fans holding Iranian flags. A cordon of military and police escorted the team from the airport to the Marriott hotel, which will serve as their base.

Soccer is virtually a religion in Iran, a national pastime beloved by people across the ​political spectrum. But for Iran’s team, the tournament has been marred by fraught politics at home, the war with the U.S., and tensions over whether ​they would actually be able to set foot on U.S. soil to play their games.

The moon rises over Tijuana as the Iranian national soccer team is set to establish its base camp for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the Mexican border city after Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to host the squad, following reports that the U.S. government did not want Iran to remain at its original base in Arizona during the tournament, in Tijuana, Mexico, May 30, 2026. REUTERS/Victor Medina.

Even their presence in Tijuana is politically ⁠tinged. The Iranian federation negotiated at the last minute to move the team’s base camp from Arizona to Mexico, due to uncertainty over whether they would be ​granted visas and a growing feeling in Iran that the squad’s presence in the U.S. should be kept to a minimum, Iran’s ambassador in Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, told Reuters.

Iran ​are scheduled to play their first two Group G games near Los Angeles, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, and then face Egypt in Seattle on June 26. Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 if both teams come second in their groups.

PRESSURE ON PLAYERS

This is the first World Cup since its inception in 1930 in ​which a host nation is set to receive a country it is at war with.

But the U.S. tensions are just one of several factors that have turned ​the World Cup into a political battleground for the Iranian team.

Widespread protests that erupted late last year, calling for an end to clerical rule, culminated in a sweeping crackdown that killed ‌more than ⁠2,000 people in the deadliest unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The U.S. and Israel then attacked Iran on February 28, sparking a months-long war that continues.

Iran’s soccer team were under pressure from all sides, said Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies at Stanford University.

“It has become a lose-lose for the players,” Milani said. “There are pressures on players not to play with the team, pressure to show comity with the people, and the athletes are just there to play soccer,” he said.

During the 2022 World ​Cup in Qatar, Iran’s team were both ​cheered and jeered after refusing to ⁠sing the national anthem, which was viewed as an act of solidarity with anti-government protesters back home. Since then, the pressures on the team had only increased, Milani said.

VISA DRAMA

After weeks of uncertainty, the U.S. awarded visas to all the players on Friday, ​just 10 days before their first match.

But several members of the Iranian squad were not given visas, including “key managerial ​and administrative members,” according ⁠to Iran’s football federation, which accused the U.S. of breaching its host obligations and violating FIFA regulations.

Pasandideh, the Iranian ambassador, said 15 of the 70 members of the party who arrived in Tijuana on Sunday had not been given visas to enter the U.S.

FIFA did not respond to a request for comment about the dispute.

An official with the ⁠U.S. State Department ​told Reuters on Friday that the administration had issued “the visas necessary for Iran to compete in ​the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff.” The official added: “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the U.S. under false pretenses.”

Mexico’s willingness to host ​the Iran squad was a “gesture of cooperation,” said Tonatiuh Guillen, who ran Mexico’s national immigration agency between 2018 and 2019.

-Reuters

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In a modest room tucked inside a historic Mexico City conference complex, visitors can step into football history: the preserved quarters where ​Pele slept before leading Brazil to its third World Cup title in ‌1970.

 Images of Brazilian soccer legend Pele are displayed at an exhibition where the public can visit the room where Pele stayed ahead of the 1970 World Cup final, at the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) in Mexico City, Mexico, June 2, 2026. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha

As Mexico prepares to kick off the tournament for a record third time on Thursday against South Africa at the Estadio Azteca, the exhibition at the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) headquarters offers ​a nostalgic link to one of the World Cup’s most celebrated moments.

The room ​has taken on renewed significance as the tournament returns to Mexico, reconnecting ⁠the country with Brazil’s iconic 4-1 victory over Italy in the 1970 final ​that cemented Pele’s legendary status.

“Brazil spent most of the tournament in Guadalajara and only came ​to Mexico City for the final against Italy,” Pedro Kumamoto, secretary general of the CISS, told Reuters.

“The question was where to put the Brazilian team. Everyone wanted a photo, a greeting, an autograph, a ​handshake from Pele. The king himself slept here.”

A jersey of Brazilian soccer legend Pele, the original closet and a television remain in the room where he stayed ahead of the 1970 World Cup final, during an exhibition open to the public at the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) in Mexico City, Mexico, June 2, 2026. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha

Built in 1963 for diplomatic gatherings, the ​complex was chosen as a secure refuge from the crowds drawn by Pele’s global fame. The exhibition ‌now features period furniture, 1970 World Cup memorabilia and a working television showing footage from Brazil’s triumph.

Details of the room where Brazilian soccer legend Pele stayed ahead of the 1970 World Cup final, at an exhibition open to the public at the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) in Mexico City, Mexico, June 2, 2026. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha 

Local memories of the football icon’s stay remain vivid more than five decades later.

“I recently met a neighbour who was six or seven years old when Pele came ​here and is now ​close to 70,” Kumamoto ⁠said. “He remembered him as very approachable, very warm. He said Pele signed autographs until he simply couldn’t anymore and spent a ​long time with fans outside.”

The balcony where Pele greeted supporters still ​overlooks the ⁠grounds unchanged.

“There is also a beautiful story about the balcony where Pele came out to greet supporters,” Kumamoto said. “It’s still the same balcony, the same place, with the echo of history ⁠in its walls.”

More than half a century after Brazil’s triumph, ​the transformed museum preserves a chapter of World Cup history as football’s biggest event returns to Mexico once ​again.

-Reuters

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 Pope Leo may have traded his life in Chicago for the ornate ​apartments at the Vatican’s apostolic palace, but he ‌still plans to root for his old national team at the World Cup this month.

Leo, the first U.S. leader of the global Catholic ​Church, told a journalist aboard his flight from Rome ​to Madrid on Saturday that he will be ⁠supporting the U.S. soccer team when the 48-team tournament ​starts on Thursday.

“I would certainly support the U.S.,” said the ​pontiff. “I don’t know how many games I’ll be able to see, but I wish them all the best.”

The U.S., which is co-hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico, will play Paraguay, Australia and Turkey in Group D.

Leo, originally from a south Chicago suburb, served ‌as a missionary and bishop in Peru for decades before becoming pope. He said in an interview last year he would root for Peru over the U.S. in any soccer ​match-ups.

Peru failed to ​qualify for ⁠this year’s tournament, opening up a papal blessing for the U.S. team.

The pope, who is on a week-long tour of Spain and the Canary Islands, also revealed a firm preference on Saturday between bitter Spanish soccer rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Asked by another journalist which ⁠of ​those teams he roots for, Leo, ​born Robert Prevost, paused briefly. “The pope is for all teams,” he responded. “Prevost is ​for Real Madrid.”

Reuters

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