Iran qualify for 2026 World Cup amid potential Trump travel ban

[groundloop]

Source: The Guardian

Iran have become the sixth team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup thanks to their 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran on Tuesday. Iran join Japan and New Zealand as the first countries to have punched their ticket via the usual qualification process, while co-hosts United States, Mexico and Canada qualified automatically.

[snip]

Tuesday’s result means Iran are guaranteed to finish in the top two of Group A in the third qualifying of AFC qualifying, earning them passage to the team’s fourth World Cup finals in a row, and seventh in their history. It stands as a major accomplishment for Iran, even as qualifying from Asia has been made easier thanks to the World Cup’s newly expanded, 48-team format.

However, the country’s current relations with the United States, which will be host the bulk of the tournament’s games, could make it hard, if not impossible for Iran’s fans and potentially even players and staff, to travel to the country for the games.

In a recent memo, the issuing of which was reported by Reuters, Iran was listed among 41 countries that would face partial or complete bans on citizens entering the United States by the Donald Trump administration. Iran specifically is listed among a group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, that would be set for a full visa suspension.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/mar/25/iran-world-cup-2026-visa-issues

[no_hypocrisy]

1. FIFA could still choose another country, another venue.

Let the U.S. lose all that money from the World Cup by blocking Iran's team.

[FakeNoose]

4. Well next year's matches are all in US, Canada and Mexico

So yes, FIFA can cancel the US matches and move them to Canada and Mexico.

I really believe that Chump will fuck this up terribly. It's not just the teams coming here, but all the fans (and players' families) from those countries too. There will be a HUGE number of black and brown soccer players and their fans coming here for FIFA, including the players who weren't born in the countries that they're now playing for.

What's to stop Chump from loading half the soccer players on planes to Venezuelan prisons? Oh. My. God.

I hope FIFA cancels the US games and moves them to Canada and Mexico. OR the teams can boycott the games that are scheduled to be played in the US. That might convince FIFA to do something drastic.

[BSDemon]

2. Maga will declare the WC as un-American

I think that it is not a wise idea to have the US host it, nobody knows how MAGAts will react, they hate basically all the world, not even Europeans are spared, as we saw in the Signalgate scandal.

[JoseBalow]

3. FIFA is corrupt asf

Expect shenanigans