Gianni Infantino lays out World Cup 2026 demand as Iran's participation remains in doubt

Iran's participation in the World Cup has been in doubt almost since they qualified for the tournament.

World Cup 2026 will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the geopolitical aggression of Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America, should be embarrassing for FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Infantino has manoeuvred himself closer and closer to Trump in the years leading up to the World Cup, a proximity at odds with the earth-straddling godlike peace-warrior aura he likes to project.

'The Iranian team is coming for sure' to World Cup 2026

Iran secured their World Cup 2026 qualification more than a year ago, finishing top of their AFC qualifying group to earn a place at a fourth consecutive World Cup finals.

But with the nation at war with the United States and Israel, and the World Cup co-hosts and the hostility of authorities on the ground in American cities the only thing about its agents that's undisguised, the arrivals of Iran and some other participating nations have been subject to doubt.

Trump's comments about Iranian visitors in particular have been more threatening than welcoming. Quite how FIFA squares the United States as co-host of a tournament from which another superpower is banned as a result of its military activity is anyone's guess, but Infantino continues his robo-hippy bluster regardless.

"The Iranian team is coming for sure, yes," Infantino preached when challenged on CNBC in the USA, as reported by Al Jazeera. "Iran has to come."

The FIFA president has been globetrotting without his feet ever touching the ground since his ascension from UEFA in 2016. If Iran were to withdraw, his self-appointed image as the world's great apolitical unifier would be damaged.

"We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation," said Infantino, who is regularly pictured smiling with the Commander-in-Chief of a nation at war.

"That would definitely help. But Iran has to come. Of course, they represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.

"[Iran] should play – sports should be outside of politics... We don’t live on the moon, we live on ‌planet Earth, but if there is nobody else that believes in building bridges and in keeping them intact and together, well, we [FIFA] are doing that."

Iran are due to play all three of their World Cup 2026 fixtures in the United States despite a brief and quickly dismissed suggestion that their Group G games could be moved to Mexico.

They kick off their World Cup campaign against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium on Monday, June 15 before facing Belgium at the same venue on Sunday, June 21. Iran then switch to Seattle's Lumen Field, where their group stage matches conclude against Egypt on Friday, June 26.