Iranian authorities have announced that “a number” of key staff have been denied visas as the team plans to travel to Mexico.
Published June 6, 2026
Iran slammed the United States for not granting visas to some of the World Cup team’s support staff as the players departed from Turkiye for Mexico.
The unrest erupted on Saturday, days before the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, begins on June 11.
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Iranian players, who have been in a training camp in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya since May 18, received their visas late Friday, Tom Ballack, Turkiye’s special envoy in Washington, told X, praising the work of the US embassy in Ankara in “processing visas for the Iranian national soccer team.”
But the Iranian embassy in Turkiye was furious on Saturday, saying “a large number” of key staff had been denied visas.
“Why not say that visas have been denied for the majority of the management, executive staff, technical advisors and others essential to the national football team?” the Iranian embassy in Turkiye said in a post to X.
“You have escalated the intentional and discriminatory treatment of the Iranian national football team to the highest level,” the embassy added.
On Saturday, Iranian news outlets reported that those who did not receive visas included Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taj, as well as board member Mehdi Harati, the federation’s secretary general Hedayat Mombini, and media director Mohsen Motamedkiya.
According to semi-official news agency Tasnim, the staff without visas will travel to Mexico with the team while efforts to obtain visas continue.
Iran’s soccer federation said co-sponsor United States’ actions “violate international sports law” and said it would take up the matter with soccer’s world governing body FIFA.
“The U.S. government continues its hostile actions against the national team and has made a completely political, non-sporting decision to deny visas to key coaches and management members of the Iranian national football team,” it said in a statement carried by Iranian state media.
“This matter will definitely be pursued by the football federation through FIFA.
“As the responsible authority,[FIFA]has the obligation to follow up and ultimately issue visas for the Iranian national team coach, executives, technical staff and support staff who are currently in camp and are urgently needed by the national team.”
FIFA did not immediately respond.
the team heads to mexico
The United States and Israel began war against Iran on February 28th. An April 8 ceasefire halted hostilities, but after weeks of threats and renewed attacks by both the United States and Iran, it appears to be rapidly unraveling.
Team Melli will depart Antalya for Mexico on a flight at 15:20 (12:20 GMT), including a stopover in Spain. A spokesperson said earlier this week that he was scheduled to arrive in Mexico at 1:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. GMT) on Sunday.
The team will be based in the northwestern border city of Tijuana during the tournament, but all three group stage games will be held in the United States.
They were originally scheduled to be based in the United States, but due to war tensions, they moved their camp to Mexico.
In Group G, Iran will play New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and 21, before facing Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
Ahead of Saturday’s departure, Iran played their final friendly against Mali in Antalya on Thursday, winning 2-0. They played their first match on May 29th, defeating Gambia 3-1.
The FIFA World Cup begins on June 11th. Check out Al Jazeera’s dedicated 2026 World Cup page for all the latest news, match progress and live text commentary, and stay up to date with group standings, real-time results and schedules.
