Iran’s football federation announced on Friday they will boycott next week’s 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, directly citing the United States’ refusal to grant visas to several key delegation members. Consequently, a federation spokesperson told state television they informed FIFA the US visa decisions involved politics, not sports.
The spokesperson confirmed the official delegation will ultimately not attend the important World Cup draw ceremony on 5th December.
Indeed, before the official announcement, the Iranian sports website Varzesh 3 claimed on Tuesday that the United States declined visas for several delegates, including federation president Mehdi Taj.
On Thursday, prior to the boycott confirmation, Taj forcefully denounced the controversial decision, explicitly calling it a political action against the Iranian delegation. Specifically, Taj explained that he told FIFA head Gianni Infantino the position was purely political and insisted FIFA must tell the US to desist from such unwelcome diplomatic behavior.
However, Varzesh 3 also noted that the US government had granted visas to four delegation members, including the national coach Amir Ghalenoei, allowing them to attend the December draw.
History of Iran and US on the Pitch
To illustrate the seriousness of this diplomatic issue, Iran qualified for the sport’s quadrennial showpiece in March, guaranteeing their seventh overall appearance and fourth successive participation. They have never progressed past the group stages, but unconfined national joy erupted in the 1998 France finals when Iran famously beat the USA 2-1 during their highly anticipated group stage match.
Later, the United States avenged that initial 1998 defeat by beating Iran 1-0 during the more recent 2022 World Cup edition in Qatar.
The 2026 tournament host nation, co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, consistently finds itself locked in conflict with the Iranian government.
Deep-Seated Political Conflict
The diplomatic fallout over the visas highlights the four decades of conflict between the United States and Iran, often complicating international sporting engagements between the two nations.
Earlier this year, for example, Tehran and Washington began high-level nuclear talks in April, though they struggled to agree on Iran’s disputed right to enrich uranium. Ultimately, those nuclear talks ended abruptly in mid-June after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, which immediately triggered a subsequent twelve-day war.
The United States briefly joined the conflict, executing strategic strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities, confirming the volatility of the relationship.
