{"id":5517,"date":"2026-03-17T23:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/fifa-rejects-irans-request-to-move-world-cup-matches-from-us-to-mexico\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:36:28","slug":"fifa-rejects-irans-request-to-move-world-cup-matches-from-us-to-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/fifa-rejects-irans-request-to-move-world-cup-matches-from-us-to-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA rejects Iran\u2019s request to move World Cup matches from US to Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The 2026 World Cup matches will be played as per schedule announced last year, the football organisation says.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The world\u2019s top football organisation, FIFA, has said the 2026 World Cup matches will take place per the schedule announced last year, shutting down Iran\u2019s hopes of having its matches moved from the United States to Mexico due to the ongoing US-Israeli <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/17\/iran-war-what-is-happening-on-day-18-of-us-israel-attacks\">war<\/a> on Iran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFIFA is in regular contact with all participating member associations, including Iran, to discuss planning for the FIFA World Cup 2026,\u201d the organisation\u2019s statement said. \u201cFIFA is looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on 6 December 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/11\/iran-cannot-participate-in-the-fifa-world-cup-sports-minister-says\">Iran cannot participate in the FIFA World Cup, sports minister says<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/11\/fifa-world-cup-iran-participation-mexico-violence-visa-ban\">What are the five key talking points surrounding the FIFA World Cup 2026?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/12\/trump-says-not-appropriate-for-iran-to-participate-in-the-world-cup-in-us\">Trump says not \u2018appropriate\u2019 for Iran to participate in the World Cup in US<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Following the outbreak of the war on February 28, Iran\u2019s participation in the games has been cast in doubt.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, US President <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/12\/trump-says-not-appropriate-for-iran-to-participate-in-the-world-cup-in-us\">Donald Trump<\/a> said Iran was welcome to come to his country for its matches, but added: \u201cI really don\u2019t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response to Trump\u2019s comments, Iran\u2019s football team said in a post on social media that \u201cno one can exclude Iran\u2019s national team from the World Cup\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, on Monday, Iranian football chief Mehdi Taj said on social media that \u201cwhen Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are currently negotiating with FIFA to hold Iran\u2019s matches in the World Cup in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/17\/iran-negotiating-with-fifa-to-move-world-cup-2026-matches-from-us-to-mexico\">Mexico<\/a>,\u201d Taj said.<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s Ambassador to Mexico Abolfazl Pasandideh also condemned on Monday Washington\u2019s \u201clack of cooperation regarding visa issuance and the provisions of logistical support\u201d for the Iranian delegation.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 World Cup is set to be played in three countries for the first time ever: the US, Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>The first game is scheduled for June 11, and will be played between South Africa and Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>But when asked if Mexico could host Iran\u2019s games, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that the country was prepared to host its first-round matches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMexico maintains diplomatic relations with every country in the world, therefore, we will wait to see what FIFA decides,\u201d Sheinbaum said.<\/p>\n<p>Iran was the second Asian team, after Japan, to qualify for the World Cup, securing its place almost a year ago after topping its qualifying group.<\/p>\n<p>They are currently scheduled to play New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, and Egypt in Seattle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 World Cup matches will be played as per schedule announced last year, the football organisation says. The world\u2019s top football organisation, FIFA, has said the 2026 World Cup matches will take place per the schedule announced last year, shutting down Iran\u2019s hopes of having its matches moved from the United States to Mexico &#8230; <a title=\"FIFA rejects Iran\u2019s request to move World Cup matches from US to Mexico\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/fifa-rejects-irans-request-to-move-world-cup-matches-from-us-to-mexico\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about FIFA rejects Iran\u2019s request to move World Cup matches from US to Mexico\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}