Mexico Hosts Iranian World Cup Team After Training Camp Switched From US

Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times,

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country had agreed to host Iran’s World Cup soccer team this summer after Washington decided it did not want the players to stay in the United States overnight.

“The United States doesn’t want the Iranian national team to stay overnight in the United States,” Sheinbaum told reporters on May 25.

She said a FIFA representative had asked, “Can they stay overnight in Mexico?”

“And we said, ‘Yes, no problem. We have no issue with that,’” she said.

“We have no reason to deny them the possibility of them staying in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said, before saying the details were being sorted out by Gabriela Cuevas, the Mexican representative to FIFA, and the tourism minister, Josefina Rodríguez Zamora.

FIFA announced on May 25 that the training camps for the 48 teams had been finalized, and Iran’s base had been moved to Tijuana, which is just over the border from San Diego, California.

Since the United States started Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28, there have been doubts about whether the Iranian team could compete in the World Cup.

Trump wrote on Truth Social On March 12 that the Iranian team is “welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”

On April 23, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, Paolo Zampolli, suggested to FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the White House that four-time winner Italy—who failed to qualify—should replace Iran at the World Cup.

On the same day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington had no objection to Iran taking part in the soccer World Cup in North America but that nobody with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would be allowed entry into the United States.

FIFA decided in 2018 to let the United States, Canada, and Mexico co-host the World Cup tournament.

World Cups are typically hosted by only one country, with the exception of the 2002 tournament, which was co-hosted by Japan and South Korea. But because FIFA had decided to expand the size of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, it agreed that the 104 matches could be shared between three countries.

Iran’s 3 Games in US

Iran qualified for the World Cup in March 2025, and in December, when the draw for the tournament was made, their three group games were placed in Seattle and Los Angeles.

At the draw, Trump was awarded with the inaugural FIFA peace prize by the organization’s president, Gianni Infantino.

The teams who have all their group games in the United States have training camps there, with the exception of Iran, who was originally scheduled to be based in Tucson, Arizona.

Iran’s first game will be in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15.

Six days later, they will play at the same venue, against Belgium, and their final group game will be against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

The World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19, and if Iran finishes in the top two in their group, they will go through to a second round match.

Players from Iran's national soccer team stand onstage as they are greeted by a crowd—before their departure for training and friendly matches in Turkey—at Islamic Revolution Square in Tehran, Iran, on May 13, 2026. Vahid Salemi/AP

If Iran finishes their group in second place, they could play the United States on July 3, in Dallas.

Iran has qualified for the World Cup six times—in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018, and 2022—but has never progressed beyond the group stage.

The U.S. State Department said on May 25 that Trump had made it clear the Iranian team was welcome to participate in the tournament.

The Epoch Times reached out to the State Department for further comment but did not receive a response by publication time.