Yesterday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed to Agence France-Presse. Iran “will participate in the World Cup” next summer and will play its matches as scheduled in the United States, despite the ongoing war in the Middle East.
“We are here for that,” Infantino added during the break between the two halves of the friendly match between Iran and Costa Rica in Antalya in southern Türkiye. “We are happy because it is a very, very strong team, and I am very happy.”
Infantino said, “I saw the team, and spoke to the players and the coach, so everything is fine,” adding that “the matches will be held where they should be held, according to the results of the draw,” at a time when Iran had requested to play its matches in the first round of the tournament scheduled between June 11 and July 19 in Mexico instead of the United States.
The FIFA president, whose presence had not been announced in advance, had sat in the stands shortly before the start of the match, and taken pictures with a number of members of the Iranian Federation, according to what a journalist from Agence France-Presse observed. The President of the Iranian Federation, Mehdi Taj, had announced in mid-March that he was “in negotiations with FIFA for Iran’s matches to be held in Mexico” instead of on American soil, as had been scheduled until now.
He added, “We are boycotting the United States, not the World Cup.”
