Iran's World Cup participation in doubt following bombings

Martin Macdonald

• 2 Mar 2026 08:01 CST
• 3 min read

News

Iran's participation in the 2026 World Cup is in doubt following a series of attacks by the United States and retaliatory bombings in the Middle East.

On Saturday, the United States attacked Iran in partnership with Israel.

One of the attacks killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom the USA and Israel had been tracking for months.

Iran has subsequently bombed Tehran and other areas in the region.

At the moment, Iran are scheduled to play in the World Cup and will face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and Egypt in Seattle.

The ongoing conflict with one of the hosts of the competition, the USA, has called into doubt whether Iran will be allowed to play in the World Cup or whether they will even want to.

In December, Iran boycotted the World Cup draw after two of their dignitaries were refused entry into the USA due to President Donald Trump's fierce immigration laws.

"With what happened... and with that attack by the United States, it is unlikely that we can look forward to the World Cup, but the sports chiefs are the ones who must decide on that," Iran football federation president Mehdi Taj told Iranian television.

FIFA have not made a decision yet but general secretary Mattias Grafstrom said "our focus is to have a safe World Cup with everybody participating".

Should Iran not participate, they will be replaced by another country from that region, with Iraq and the United Arab Emirates the favourites to win their spot, though Iraq could qualify anyway via an intercontinental playoff.

"We are in uncharted territory in that we are just over three months away from the start of the World Cup and the hosts have just launched a war of aggression against a participating country," Nick McGeehan of human rights advocacy group FairSquare told BBC Sport.

"If Iran withdraws its team - an outcome that seems entirely plausible - Fifa is likely to breathe a sigh of relief given the scope for protest and unrest."

These bombings came in the same week that it was confirmed that various World Cup host cities had not received the necessary funds from the government for infrastructure and security costs.

A $900 million kitty was promised to the host cities but that has yet to be received, which is raising major concerns, particularly over security.

Ray Martinez, chief operating officer of the Miami World Cup Host Committee, insists that events will have to be cancelled if funding is not received.

"We have to start making some really tough decisions and it starts with our fan festival," he said.

"Without receiving this money, it could be catastrophic for our planning and co-ordination.

"The matches up at the stadium will take place, but preparing for all the impromptu events and watch parties that we are expecting to see will be in jeopardy."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) launched a grant programme in November

to allow host cities to "carry out the extensive security activities required to protect players, staff, attendees, venues and critical infrastructure across the host cities, strengthening them against potential terrorist attacks".

The news of the overall funding freeze comes as officials in Foxborough, Boston are refusing to give FIFA an entertainment license to hold matches at the Gillette Stadium until they receive funding.

At the moment, Foxborough is the only World Cup location yet to issue an entertainment license to FIFA to hold the matches as a row has erupted over who will pay for security for seven tournament fixtures.

Foxborough has determined that around $7.7 million will be required to cover security and infrastructure costs to host the matches - and they are refusing to pay it themselves.

There is currently a partial government shutdown in the United States after Democrats refused to provide more Homeland Security funding. Homeland Security is the department that deals with immigration enforcement and there is major scrutiny on them at the moment following the ICE shootings of two American citizens in Minnesota in January.

This is the second shutdown in the past year, following one in November of 2025 which left thousands of federal workers without pay.

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