The Iranian men's national soccer team was one of the first teams to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America, an event shaping up to be FIFA's largest yet, not only in terms of footprint and participating teams but also commercially, projected to generate upwards of $11 billion in revenue.
But amid the U.S.-Iran war, Iran's participation in the tournament has remained a question mark.
Last month, Iran's sports minister made his position clear: "Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup," he stated.
In a post on Truth Social in March, U.S. President Donald Trump said that while Iran's team would be "welcome" at the World Cup, "I really don't believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety."
But FIFA President Gianni Infantino says Iran will be "coming for sure."
"We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation, that would definitely help," Infantino told CNBC's Sara Eisen at CNBC's Invest in America Forum on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. "But Iran has to come, of course. They represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play."
Infantino said that he recently visited with the Iranian team at their training camp in Antalya, Turkey, where he said the team indicated they wanted to play.
"They should play – sports should be outside of politics," Infantino said. "Now, okay – we don't live on the moon, we live on planet Earth, but if there is nobody else that believes in building bridges and in keeping them intact and together, well we are doing that."
Iran is scheduled to play all three of its group stage matches in the U.S.: against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, against Belgium in Los Angeles on June 21, and against Egypt in Seattle on June 26. If Iran were to advance in the tournament, its future games would likely be held in the U.S.
The Iranian football federation had previously stated it made a request to FIFA to move its team's games to Mexico, which is co-hosting the World Cup alongside the U.S. and Canada. However, that request was denied.
The last time a national team withdrew from a FIFA World Cup was 1950, when multiple teams did not participate in the first tournament held post-World War II.
The 2026 World Cup has been facing two other major fan concerns: the cost of tickets, and the safety and security of the millions of international fans expected to attend.
Infantino said that there has been "an unprecedented demand for tickets," saying that there were more than 500 million ticket requests.
"Security is obviously key, it's crucial, it's important," he said. "You can, of course, always hear and read there are bans or this and that, but the fact is, we received ticket requests from all 211 countries. Everybody's coming and everybody wants to come."
With 57 days until the 2026 World Cup begins, Eisen asked Infantino what a successful tournament would look like.
"A win would be that we have a successful World Cup from a security point of view, so no incidents. And from a football point of view, great matches, great games, excitement for the people," he said.
English (US) · 