{"id":1342119,"date":"2026-03-18T17:34:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/1342119\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:34:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:34:54","slug":"mexico-prepared-to-host-iran-world-cup-games-says-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/1342119\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico prepared to host Iran World Cup games, says president"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AFP048625_00.pre.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t      Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country is prepared to host Iran&#8217;s first-round matches at the 2026 World Cup if needed due to the conflict in the Middle East.<br \/>  Iran&#8217;s participation at this summer&#8217;s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico has been in doubt since the war began last month, with President Donald Trump warning that Iranian players&#8217; safety would be at risk if they travelled to the US.<br \/>  Iran&#8217;s football federation has opened talks with FIFA about potentially relocating its matches from the United States, though the global governing body has so far maintained that the tournament&#8217;s schedule remains unchanged.<br \/>  Asked directly if Mexico was open to hosting the matches, and if the decision will purely come down to FIFA logistics, Sheinbaum told a press conference: Yes.<br \/>  Mexico maintains diplomatic relations with every country in the world, therefore we will wait to see what FIFA decides, she added.<br \/>  Iran&#8217;s place at the tournament was thrown into question after the US and Israel launched a massive offensive against the Islamic Republic, which responded with waves of missiles and drones targeting Israeli territory and American targets across the Middle East.<br \/>  FIFA president Gianni Infantino initially said that Trump had given assurances that the Iranian team &#8212; scheduled to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, followed by Egypt in Seattle &#8212; would still be welcome.<br \/>  But the Republican president then triggered uproar last week after stating that Iran&#8217;s football team should not travel to the tournament for their own life and safety.<br \/>  Iran hit back at Trump&#8217;s comments saying that no one can exclude Iran&#8217;s national team from the World Cup.<br \/>  &#8211; &#8216;Lack of cooperation&#8217; &#8211;<br \/>  Iran were the second Asian team after Japan to qualify for the World Cup, securing their place almost a year ago as they topped their qualifying group.<br \/>  On Monday, Iranian football chief Mehdi Taj wrote on social media: When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America.<br \/>  We are currently negotiating with FIFA to hold Iran&#8217;s matches in the World Cup in Mexico.<br \/>  Iranian soccer authorities are currently discussing with FIFA whether it is feasible &#8212; since they were originally scheduled to go to the United States &#8212; to see if they can move Iran&#8217;s games to Mexico, confirmed Sheinbaum.<br \/>  The matter is under review and we will provide an update in due course.<br \/>  When contacted by AFP on the matter, FIFA said it was looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on 6 December 2025.<br \/>  FIFA is in regular contact with all participating member associations, including IR Iran, to discuss planning for the FIFA World Cup 2026, a spokesperson said.<br \/>  The Iran team&#8217;s base camp for the tournament is currently slated to be located in Tucson, Arizona.<br \/>  Abolfazl Pasandideh, Iran&#8217;s ambassador to Mexico, on Monday denounced the US government&#8217;s lack of cooperation regarding visa issuance and the provision of logistical support for the Iranian delegation ahead of the World Cup, in a statement published on the embassy&#8217;s website.<br \/>  Should Iran not take part in the World Cup, it is not yet clear which country might replace them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country is prepared to host Iran&#8217;s first-ro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1342120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[380362],"tags":[36,56,34836,416,34834,392753,392758,382225,12880,12943,21,5291,224017,12073,35576,381254,58895,16014,109565,37301,311586,134858,3032,8584,4037,150218,392755,39560,392759,130803,392754,256991,23886,392757,9793,12990,31794,384998,326261,392752,380520,392756,39714,150221,43900,9899],"class_list":{"0":"post-1342119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-game-news","8":"tag-gaming","9":"tag-game","10":"tag-game-news","11":"tag-games","12":"tag-gaming-news","13":"tag-jiji","14":"tag-topics","15":"tag-topix","16":"tag-12880","17":"tag-12943","18":"tag-21","19":"tag-5291","20":"tag-224017","21":"tag-12073","22":"tag-35576","23":"tag-381254","24":"tag-58895","25":"tag-16014","26":"tag-109565","27":"tag-37301","28":"tag-311586","29":"tag-134858","30":"tag-3032","31":"tag-8584","32":"tag-4037","33":"tag-150218","34":"tag-392755","35":"tag-39560","36":"tag-392759","37":"tag-130803","38":"tag-392754","39":"tag-256991","40":"tag-23886","41":"tag-392757","42":"tag-9793","43":"tag-12990","44":"tag-31794","45":"tag-384998","46":"tag-326261","47":"tag-392752","48":"tag-380520","49":"tag-392756","50":"tag-39714","51":"tag-150221","52":"tag-43900","53":"tag-9899"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@games\/116251389135673733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1342120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}