A few days before the tournament starts
Visa chaos: good news for World Cup participants
June 4, 2026 – 11:01 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The tournament starts on June 11th in the USA, Canada and Mexico. One national team still had to worry about their entry permit. Now there is an update.
All members of the Iranian national football team have received their visas to enter Mexico and can head to the World Cup. “With the issuance of visas for the remaining two members, the process of obtaining entry permits has been completed,” the association announced a week before the start of the XXL tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada (June 11th to July 19th).
Iran has been in a military conflict with the USA since the end of February. The entry of the Iranian national team into the United States caused controversy. This is also why the Iranian association announced at the end of May that it would move its training camp from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico.
Good chances of reaching the next round
“Fortunately, our request to move the team’s quarters from the United States to Mexico was approved,” reported association president Mehdi Taj. From Tijuana, Mexico, which is south of San Diego, the team around attacker Mehdi Taremi has a short journey to Los Angeles, where the Asians will face New Zealand on June 15th and Belgium on June 21st. The third game will take place on June 26th in Seattle against Egypt.
Before leaving for Mexico, the Iranian national team won a friendly against Mali 2-0 (1-0). The goals were scored by Said Esatolahi (12th minute) and Ramin Resaian (55th). According to Iranian media reports, the game was played behind closed doors in Antalya, Turkey.
This Saturday the team travels from Europe to Mexico. The team is expected in Tijuana on Sunday night. Iran has taken part in every World Cup tournament in Brazil since 2014, but has not yet made it past the preliminary round despite respectable results. Given the expansion of the field to 48 teams and a feasible start against outsiders New Zealand, the chances of reaching the round of 32 are good this time.