{"id":2792960,"date":"2026-03-18T09:42:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2792960\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T09:42:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:42:39","slug":"mexico-prepared-to-host-iran-world-cup-games-says-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2792960\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico prepared to host Iran World Cup games, says president"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/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":2,"featured_media":2792961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785159],"tags":[98706,163941,528524,32077,939,1670,98751,73191,11802,200,125020,78392,6798,54525,17757,812,4817,3687,4313,31168,1712,345531,6330,784979,2722,11034,784980,1668,3843,13633,11786,3577,16899,21135,302851,482,14115,577,1669],"class_list":{"0":"post-2792960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mexico","8":"tag-jiji","9":"tag-mexico","10":"tag-topics","11":"tag-topix","12":"tag-939","13":"tag-1670","14":"tag-98751","15":"tag-73191","16":"tag-11802","17":"tag-200","18":"tag-125020","19":"tag-78392","20":"tag-6798","21":"tag-54525","22":"tag-17757","23":"tag-812","24":"tag-4817","25":"tag-3687","26":"tag-4313","27":"tag-31168","28":"tag-1712","29":"tag-345531","30":"tag-6330","31":"tag-784979","32":"tag-2722","33":"tag-11034","34":"tag-784980","35":"tag-1668","36":"tag-3843","37":"tag-13633","38":"tag-11786","39":"tag-3577","40":"tag-16899","41":"tag-21135","42":"tag-302851","43":"tag-482","44":"tag-14115","45":"tag-577","46":"tag-1669"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2792960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2792961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2792960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2792960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2792960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}