Could Iran be banned from the 2026 World Cup? Every key question answered

Iran’s participation in the 2026 World Cup has been thrown into doubt amid the ongoing military tension between the Islamic Republic and the United States, who are hosting most of the tournament’s matches.

FIFA face a major headache as things continue to escalate between Iran and the United States. Air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities threaten to catalyse a full-scale war, making it difficult to envisage Iran’s national team playing matches on US soil next summer.

We’ve put together a summary of the full situation.

Will Iran qualify for the 2026 World Cup?

Yes. They already have.

Iran became the sixth team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after their 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan back in March. Inter striker Mehdi Teremi scored both goals.

Team Melli have made it to their fourth successive World Cup, making them modern-day mainstays, after topping a group that featured Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea.

They followed Japan and New Zealand in qualifying after the three co-hosts Canada, Mexico and the USA made it automatically.

Only direct action from FIFA, disqualifying them from the tournament, will stop them from being there now.

Will Iranian supporters be permitted to travel to the USA?

It remains to be seen if any special provisions will be made, but as things currently stand FIFA face a major problem.

Iran was listed alongside 40 other countries in a memo issued by the Trump administration in March.

The Islamic Republic was included in the most severe travel restrictions alongside Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Earlier this month, President Trump issued the full proclamation, meaning that citizens of the nations are completely barred from entering the U.S. under any visa category, either as an immigrant or non-immigrant.

It is expected that exemptions will be made for the footballers, coaches and other essential staff for the World Cup. There has been little to suggest that there will be anything similar for travelling supporters, though.

What about Mexico and Canada?

There is no such ban from the other two host nations.

The schedule has already been drawn up for the tournament in terms of host cities, dates and stages – which will be filled in after the preliminary draw takes place in December.

There’s a possibility that Iran could be drawn into Group A and play all three of their group stage matches in Mexico, although the overwhelming likelihood is that they’d be scheduled to play at least one game in the USA.

There is a precedent for arranging draws with diplomatic tensions in mind. For example, UEFA kept Ukraine and Russia separated in draws to prevent them from playing each other since the annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014.

But at this stage, there has been no suggestion that FIFA will do anything to stop Iran playing in the United States. This would be something of a logistical minefield when it comes to the knockout stages.

Could Iran be expelled from the 2026 World Cup?

There is some precedent for suspending nations from competing.

Russia were suspended indefinitely from UEFA and FIFA competitions following the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Eritrea withdrew from the qualifiers due to concerns that their players would seek political asylum.

Earlier this year, Congo were briefly suspended by FIFA due to government interference in their football federation’s operations.

Germany, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, Chile and Myanmar are among the other nations to have been banned from World Cup participation in the past, although none were banned after qualifying.

FIFA could theoretically suspend Iran in the event of war with the United States, particularly when you consider Infantino’s close relationship with President Trump.

What has Infantino said about Iran?

Infantino has not said anything specifically about Iran’s participation in next year’s World Cup.

However, the FIFA president has defended their right to participate in the past.

“It’s not two regimes playing against each other, it’s not two ideologies playing against each other, it’s two football teams,” he said ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, defending Iran’s presence after calls for dropping the team over the nation’s crackdown on protests.

“If we don’t have at least football to bring us together… which world are we going to live in? In Iran there are 80 million people, are they all bad? Are they all monsters?” he continued.

“Do we want to continue to spit on the others because they look different, or they feel different? We defend human rights. We do it our way. We obtain results.

“We got women fans in Iran. The Women’s League was created in Sudan. Let’s celebrate. Don’t divide.”

In November, Infantino continued to praise the Islamic Republic for taking steps forward

“In September, I had the pleasure of meeting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in New York City, where we discussed the development of women’s football in the country and progress made regarding the presence of women in football stadiums,” he said in a statement released on social media.

“It was, therefore, with great delight that I learnt that around 3,000 women attended the Tehran derby between Persepolis FC and Esteghlal FC today (Dec 14).

“Thanks to the ongoing dialogue between Fifa and the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation, there is progress being made.”

It will be interesting to see if he changes tack if things continue to escalate between the USA and Iran.

What has Trump said about Iran?

President Trump hasn’t said anything about Iran’s participation at the World Cup next year.

Back in May, he was caught off guard and admitted that he wasn’t aware Russia was suspended during a meeting the the 2026 World Cup task force.

Trump claimed that re-admitting Russia could be a “good incentive” for achieving peace with Ukraine.

He subsequently spoke about the conflict between Iran and Israel and the prospect of regime change in Iran during a surreal media briefing with players from Juventus during FIFA’s flagship Club World Cup.

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