3 min readMay 24, 2026 08:16 AM IST
On a day that US President Donald Trump said that they had “largely negotiated” a deal with Iran on the ongoing war, the Iranian football federation has said that they will move their training base for the upcoming FIFA World Cup to Mexico. The Iranian football team was initially supposed to have their training based in Tucson, Arizona, but will now be based out of Tijuana, Mexico, according to Mehdi Taj, the president of the Iran Football Federation.
Taj made the announcement late on Saturday in a statement and also claimed that the global governing body of football, FIFA, had given its blessings for the move. FIFA, however, is yet to announce that it was okay with the move.
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“All team base camps for the countries participating in the World Cup must be approved by FIFA. Fortunately, following the requests we submitted and the meetings we held with FIFA and World Cup officials in Istanbul, as well as the webinar meeting we had yesterday in Tehran with the respected FIFA secretary general, our request to change the team’s base from the United States to Mexico was approved,” Taj was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Iranian federation.
Iran’s participation at the FIFA World Cup — which will be co-hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada — had been under threat because of uncertainty surrounding the war in the Middle East and security concerns about the Iranian players in the US.
The FIFA World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 19. Iran are scheduled to play all their three Group G games in the US, with Inglewood, California hosting their games against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later, and Seattle playing host for the Iran vs Egypt clash on June 26.
The federation said Tijuana’s relatively close proximity to Inglewood, a suburb of Los Angeles, will benefit the team and the new location “includes all training facilities, gym, private restaurant and everything else the team needs.”
Iran’s federation said moving the base camp will resolve potential visa issues since the team will enter the U.S. through Mexico.
(With inputs from Associated Press)
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