Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country is prepared to host Iran’s first-round matches at the 2026 World Cup if needed due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Iran’s participation at this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico has been in doubt since the war began last month, with President Donald Trump warning that Iranian players’ safety would be at risk if they travelled to the US
Iran’s football federation has opened talks with FIFA about potentially relocating its matches from the United States, though the global governing body has so far maintained that the tournament’s schedule remains unchanged.
Asked directly if Mexico was open to hosting the matches, and if the decision will purely come down to FIFA logistics, Sheinbaum told a press conference: “Yes.”
“Mexico maintains diplomatic relations with every country in the world, therefore we will wait to see what FIFA decides,” she added.
Iran’s place at the tournament was thrown into question after the US and Israel launched a massive offensive against the Islamic Republic, which responded with waves of missiles and drones targeting Israeli territory and American targets across the Middle East.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino initially said that Trump had given assurances that the Iranian team — scheduled to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, followed by Egypt in Seattle — would still be welcome.
But the Republican president then triggered uproar last week after stating that Iran’s football team should not travel to the tournament “for their own life and safety”.
Iran hit back at Trump’s comments saying that “no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup”.
