Iran will participate in the Football World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino assured on Wednesday, even though the Team Melli’s participation remains uncertain due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Iran will participate in the Football World Cup, it is certain,” confirmed FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Wednesday, as the participation of Team Melli remains uncertain less than two months before the start of the World Cup due to the conflict in the Middle East. “Iran will come, it’s certain,” he stated during an economic conference organized by CNBC in Washington. “We hope that at this point (the start of the competition on June 11, editor’s note), the situation will be peaceful, which would really help,” he explained.
“But Iran must come, they represent their people, they have qualified, the players want to play,” said Mr. Infantino, who visited the Iranian national team during a training camp in Antalya, Turkey at the end of March. He also attended a friendly match of the Iranian team. He had already committed to Iran’s participation in the world competition even though US President Donald Trump, with whom Mr. Infantino regularly interacts, had previously suggested that Iranian players might not be “safe” in the United States.
According to the official schedule, Iran is set to play three matches in Group G in the United States, co-hosts of the tournament with Mexico and Canada: in Los Angeles against New Zealand (June 16) and Belgium (June 21) and then in Seattle against Egypt (June 27). Their base camp during the tournament is expected to be in Tucson, Arizona.
“Sports should be outside of politics”
At the beginning of the conflict triggered by the United States and Israel on February 28, Iran mentioned a “boycott” of the competition, before requesting FIFA to move their matches from the US to Mexico, a request which FIFA refused.
After several weeks of airstrikes on Iran and Iranian retaliations against Israel and the region’s countries, a fragile truce was put in place on April 8 for two weeks. However, Tehran has closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz and Washington has imposed a blockade on ships coming to or leaving Iranian ports since Monday.
“Sports should be outside of politics,” reiterated the FIFA chief on Wednesday. “Okay, we don’t live on the Moon, we live on planet Earth. But if no one else believes in building bridges and keeping them intact and united, then it’s us who do this work,” explained Mr. Infantino. He also believed that the largest World Cup ever organized (3 countries, 48 teams) would be “a success” if it was “successful from a security point of view, therefore without incidents, and from a football perspective, with great matches and exciting football.”
