Italy repechage to World Cup, Iran spies FIFA: "Forced to make other decisions"
Iran is nearing the end of preparations in Turkey and will leave over the weekend for Mexico, in Tijuana, where the new base camp for the 2026 World Cup has been set up. Participation in the rainbow event remains uncertain, Tehran Federation President Mehdi Taj said Friday that Iran is following the instructions of FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.
At the root of it all is the problem of visas: those for the United States have not yet arrived, and the difficult international context, with the war started in February by the United States and Israel, seems to cast a shadow over the national team. “I have had talks with FIFA about visas for the United States. We were told to hand over all passports to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara,” are Taj’s words reported by Al-Jazeera.
“We are waiting to see what will happen in the next two days, because our national team needs to receive these passports and travel with them to Tijuana.”
Taj also said that action could be taken: “We have informed FIFA: if the Americans do not issue visas for the players, some members of our technical staff and other members of our delegation, we could take other decisions. In my opinion, all visas will be issued regularly and most likely there will be no problems in this regard.”
On the sporting side, ‘Team Melli’ concluded their European training camp in Turkey with a closed-door friendly against Mali, played on the turf of Antalya’s Mardan Stadyumu. A choice desired by coach Amir Ghalenoei to armor the last tactical schemes before the departure for Mexico. The team arrives at the rainbow appointment with an encouraging preparation, which had already yielded a 3-1 victory against Gambia, and with behind them a qualification path dominated with full merit: the World Cup pass had been mathematically conquered on March 24, 2025 thanks to a precious 2-2 draw on the field of Uzbekistan.
Included in Group G along with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand, Iran will have to play all three matches on U.S. soil: on June 15 against New Zealand in Los Angeles, on June 21 against Belgium also in Los Angeles, and on June 26 against Egypt in Seattle. Hovering in the background of this tangled diplomatic and sporting affair is the issue of the repechage of Italy, the first national team excluded in the FIFA rankings among those who did not qualify and the potential beneficiary of an eventual Iranian forfeit under Article 6.7 of FIFA regulations. Even Paolo Zampolli, special envoy of the Trump administration and main sponsor of the Azzurri cause, however, seems to have now raised the white flag on the issue.
