Italy World Cup repechage: sensational development, Iran announces change of venue. U.S. displaced
A surprising new development is coming about Iran’s participation in the World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The president of the Iranian Football Federation has announced a change of venue for the national team.
Mehdi Taj said FIFA has given the go-ahead for Iran’s relocation of its base camp for the World Cup, moving it from the United States (it was in Tucson) to Mexico. The BBC reports.
According to Taj, the Iranian team will now settle in Tijuana, a Mexican city on the U.S. border, although FIFA has not yet officially confirmed the change. Iran had initially been assigned Tucson, Arizona, but due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and related security concerns, doubts arose about the national team’s participation.
The World Cup, co-organized by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, will see Iran face New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 (both matches in Los Angeles), while on June 26 it will take on Egypt in Seattle. “All participating national teams’ base camps must be approved by FIFA,” Taj stressed. “Thanks to the requests submitted and meetings held with the FIFA and World Cup leadership in Istanbul, as well as Friday’s webinar discussion from Tehran with FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom, our request to move the base from U.S. territory to Mexico has been granted.”
The new venue will therefore be Tijuana, located near the Pacific Ocean, right on the Mexico-U.S. border. Taj added that this solution is more convenient than the previous location in Arizona because it is closer to the cities that will host the national team’s games. “For the two competitions in Los Angeles, the flight will take about 55 minutes, much less than in Tucson,” Taj explained. The decision at the moment has not been confirmed by either FIFA or the U.S., which indeed had reiterated in recent days that Tucson would be the training venue for the Melli team.
The Iranian national team is currently preparing in Antalya, in southern Turkey. In recent days, Taj had reported that Iranian players were still waiting for visas to be issued for the tournament, scheduled from June 11. The Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) had handed FIFA a list of 10 conditions for participation, including granting visas also to players, coaches and managers who have served in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
In the background of this affair, Italy, the first national team excluded in the FIFA rankings among those who did not qualify, remains waiting. According to Article 6.7 of FIFA regulations-which provides for the possibility of replacing a withdrawn or excluded association with another federation-the Azzurri would be the main candidate for repechage in the event of an Iranian forfeit.
