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The Iranian Football Federation has announced that they have moved their training camp ahead of the2026 World Cupout of Tuscon, Arizona 300 miles south to Tijuana, Mexico instead.
Federation president Mehdi Taj made the announcement on Saturday morning that the Iranian men’s national soccer team would hold their training camp in Mexico after receiving approval from FIFA.
🎥 رئیس فدراسیون فوتبال: کمپ تیم ملی به مکزیک منتقل شد. با این اتفاق مشکلات روادید حل میشود.pic.twitter.com/6HEe8xakxy
And just like that, the geopolitical plot thickens between Iran and the United States just weeks before the World Cup kicks off on June 11th.
The latest war in the Middle East began on February 28th of this year when the U.S. and Israel launcheda massive military campaignand missile strikes against Iranian targets. As far as how that would affect Iran’s participation in the 2026 World Cup held in North America, it has raised several concerns among both sides.
Iran had originally planned to stage its pre-tournament training camp at Tuschon’s Kino Sports Complex, before heading to Los Angeles for their first two matches in group play.
But with tensions escalating between the U.S. and Iran amid the ongoing conflict, Taj initially threatened toboycott the World Cup, before requesting all of their group play matchesbe moved out of the U.S. and to Mexico.
U.S. President Donald Trump certainly didn’t help matters either, when he said in March that while Iran’s soccer team is welcome to still participate in the World Cup, he did not believe it was “appropriate” to do so “for their own life and safety.”
FIFA denied Iran’s request to have their matches moved to Mexico and confirmed they would not be withdrawing from the tournament. But with uncertainty surrounding visas, travel logistics and security risks, FIFA reportedly approved Iran’s request to move their training camp to Mexico out of Arizona.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
