Iran to lodge criticism with FIFA over World Cup 2026 journey restrictions | World Cup 2026 News

Team’s criticism comes amid the denial of their request to fly to the United States two days earlier than their subsequent match.

Iran’s 2026 World Cup group will lodge a criticism with FIFA claiming they’re being subjected to journey restrictions through the event in North America, the Iranian soccer federation spokesperson mentioned on Thursday.

“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” the spokesperson mentioned, in accordance with AFP information company.

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Iran wished to fly from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, to the United States two days earlier than their subsequent group match in opposition to Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday. But the Iranian federation claims its request was turned down.

“Given that the game will be played at 12pm local time in Los Angeles, the football federation of Iran requested that the team be allowed to travel to Los Angeles two days before the match,” the spokesman mentioned.

“The aim was to provide sufficient time for players to adapt to the match conditions, complete their final training session, and finalise preparations.

“Despite the technical reasons presented by the federation, the request was once again denied.”

 

After Iran’s first World Cup recreation on Monday – wherein they drew 2-2 with New Zealand in a politically charged encounter – US officers mentioned that the group should go away the nation inside hours of the full-time whistle at their World Cup group video games in Los Angeles and Seattle.

The response from the World Cup 2026 cohost nation got here on Tuesday following criticism of its dealing with of the Iranian group’s visas and keep within the US after their first recreation.

The Iranian delegation left the US hours after the match in LA ended at about 8pm native time (03:00 GMT) and returned to their base camp in Mexico, prompting criticism of the US dealing with of their visas, because the group didn’t get a day to get well at their lodge.

‘Match day minus one,’ says US authorities

The US administration has pushed again in opposition to the Iranian claims.

Andrew Giuliani, the chief director of the White House FIFA Task Force, mentioned on Monday that Iran had been knowledgeable prematurely that they might be allowed to come back into the US solely on the day earlier than the sport.

“The team will be allowed to come in, match day minus one, so the day before the match,” Giuliani informed CBS News.

“They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match. And they’ll be able to do that again in Los Angeles.”

He added that the process could be the identical for Iran’s closing group recreation in opposition to Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

Iran, who’re in Group G, kicked off their marketing campaign this week in North America after months of uncertainty over the group’s participation within the World Cup amid the US-Israel warfare on Iran.