Among the wide-ranging ramifications of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Iran’s participation in the FIFA World Cup 2026 has become a key talking point, with the tournament less than 100 days away.
The global sporting event will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States from June 11 to July 19, with Iran among the 48 nations expected to travel to North America at least a week prior to the opening game.
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US President Donald Trump says he doesn’t care if Iran participates in the World Cup or not.
“I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes,” Trump told the American news site Politico on Tuesday.
The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday that have killed at least 1,045 people, including its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and sparked a regional conflict that has spread to 12 countries.
Tehran responded by launching waves of missiles and drones at Israel and towards several military bases in the Middle East where US forces operate.
Following the escalations, Iran’s spot at the World Cup has come under question, and officials from the Iranian football federation and FIFA have been noncommittal on the world’s 20th-ranked football nation’s participation.
“After this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Mehdi Taj, president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), told local sports portal Varzesh3 on Sunday.
Uncharted territory
A leading expert on sports and geopolitics believes that Iran’s participation in the tournament is in serious doubt amid an armed conflict between one of the host nations and a participant.
“Ultimately, the diplomatic solution [will be] that Iran itself just steps aside and withdraws from the tournament,” Simon Chadwick, a professor of Afro-Eurasian sport at the Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, told Al Jazeera.
Chadwick said it’s “very difficult” to see the US allowing players, backroom staff and officials to enter the country.
“The US will not be keen to admit [Iranian] players, officials or medics – who normally travel alongside teams to tournaments.
“Given that they [Iran] are going to have to play their games in the US, I find it unlikely that they will be there.”
Despite the logistical quagmire and its unlikely resolution in a timely manner, Chadwick said withdrawal will not be an easy option for Iran, who will think “very long and hard before walking away”.
The last time a team pulled out of a FIFA World Cup due to political reasons was in 1950, when Argentina withdrew, citing disagreements with the Brazilian Football Confederation.
“We are in uncharted territory here,” Chadwick explained.
“We tend to associate boycotts and countries not participating in sport mega-events with the Olympic Games, where mass boycotts were seen in 1980 and 1984 during the Cold War.
“Typically, that doesn’t tend to happen in World Cups.”
Chadwick, who has written several books on the economy and politics of sport, believes the impact of withdrawal will not just be political, but also financial.
“On the one hand, we are living in very complex and sensitive times, and arguably there are reasons for a country either to withdraw or be banned,” he said.
“But we’re [also] living in highly commercial times, and the financial consequences of unilaterally walking away from what is arguably the world’s biggest sport mega event i