Iran’s World Cup squad will travel to Turkey on Monday for a training camp, friendlies and to complete visa applications before heading to the United States, head coach Amir Ghalenoei said on Saturday.
Team Melli will be returning to Antalya where they trained and played friendlies in March.
They are taking a squad of 30 players, which will have to be trimmed to the World Cup maximum of 26. Perhaps the best known is 33-year-old former Porto striker Mehdi Taremi, now with Olympiacos.
“Selecting 30 players for this final training camp ahead of the World Cup was the most difficult technical decision of my coaching career,” Ghalenoei told the Iranian football federation website, adding that he had selected players solely on “technical criteria.”
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images
Iran hope to play two friendlies in Antalya. They have already confirmed one match, against Gambia, on May 29, said Sam Mehdizadeh, an Iranian-Canadian who heads a company that sets up friendlies for the team.
Iran and the U.S. cut diplomatic ties in 1980, and the players are expected to use their time in Turkey to complete the necessary procedures for obtaining visas.
“No visas have been issued yet,” Mehdi Taj, the Iranian football federation head, told Iranian media on Thursday.
Taj said players were expected to undergo fingerprinting in Turkey as part of the visa process but wished to avoid a trip of more than 280 miles from Antalya to Ankara.
Taj is expected to hold talks with FIFA president Gianni Infantino as Tehran seeks assurances for its squad amid tensions increased by the ongoing war.
When the squad reaches the U.S., Iran will set up their base camp in Tucson, Arizona.
They are due to kick off the group stage of their World Cup campaign against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium south of Los Angeles on June 15, before facing Belgium in the same stadium, and then Egypt at Lumen Field in Seattle.
President Trump has appeared to send mixed messages on whether he believes Iran should take part in the World Cup. In a White House meeting in mid-March, Mr. Trump told FIFA representatives that Iran was welcome to play in the tournament, officials told CBS News at the time. However, two days later, Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social that while the Iranian team was “welcome” to participate, he didn’t “believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”
Following those remarks, Taj said Iran was negotiating with FIFA to play its matches in Mexico.
Infantino has repeatedly stated that Iran will participate. On April 30 in Vancouver, Canada, while addressing the FIFA Congress — an annual meeting which involves FIFA representatives from more than 200 nations — Infantino opened his remarks by “confirming, straight away, for those who want to say something else or write something else, that of course Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026. And of course Iran will play in the United States of America.”
Taj said last week said the country will participate in the World Cup, but under certain conditions.
“We are going to the World Cup, for which we qualified, and our host is FIFA, not Mr. Trump or America,” Taj told Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
[/gpt3]
