'Since it's being held in the U.S., don't let Iranians come?' Iran Football Federation: 'World Cup ticket allocation cancelled'... Urges FIFA to maintain fairness

*This content was translated by AI.

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America just around the corner, ticket allocation for Iran national team matches to Iranian fans has been completely cancelled. The Iranian side strongly objects, stating that political considerations have been involved.

On the 9th (local time), the Iran Football Federation announced in a statement that while ticket sales procedures for the Iran national team match to be held in the United States had begun, they can no longer provide tickets to fans. Typically, football federations of World Cup participating countries are allocated 8% of the stadium's seating capacity to distribute to their own fans.

Iran, which is in Group G of the group stage, will play all three group stage matches in the United States: against New Zealand on the 15th, Belgium on the 21st (both in Los Angeles), and Egypt on the 26th (in Seattle).

The Iran Football Federation did not directly specify the entity that made the decision to suspend ticket sales. However, it criticized the move, stating that "the deprivation of rights to legally allocated tickets violates the spirit of the tournament and the principle of equality among participating countries," and raised "serious doubts as to whether political considerations have been involved in the organization of the world's largest football event." It further urged FIFA to maintain neutrality and fairness.

This incident is an extension of the ongoing turmoil that has persisted since the outbreak of conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran in February. Due to concerns over visa issues, the Iran national team established its base camp in Tijuana, a Mexican border city, instead of the originally planned Tucson, Arizona. Player visas were issued only 10 days before the first match, and some federation officials and staff were ultimately denied entry into the United States. Moreover, ordinary Iranian citizens have found it virtually impossible to obtain visas due to the U.S. travel ban measures that have been in place since last year.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino previously emphasized during the 2017 joint bid for the North American World Cup that "supporters and officials of all teams must be able to attend the World Cup," but the current FIFA side remains silent in response to requests for comment on this ticket cancellation incident.

Meanwhile, disturbances caused by the United States' strict entry and exit controls continue. Recently, Omar Abdulqadir Artan, a World Cup referee of Somali origin, was denied entry into the United States due to the aftermath of immigration restrictions under the Donald Trump administration and was forced to withdraw from the tournament.

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*This content was translated by AI.