2026 World Cup and Qualifiers

(26-05-2026 15:25 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  didn't take Tango Man long did it?
FIFA need to remind him that it is a football competition and they have nothing to do with what is happening politically or otherwise, If he does refuse them entry then FIFA should say sod the USA & host it between Mexico and Canada and ban the US team from entering

The problem is FIFA are as shameful as Trump. Gianni Infantino is a Trump buddy and it makes me sick to be honest. The World Cup draw was cringeworthy with the cosying up.

I just really am not looking forward to this World Cup. The politics, the extortion, the absolute nonsensical behaviour of two real idiots, Trump and Infantino. It's actually turning me off football to a degree.

(26-05-2026 09:02 )Charlemagne Wrote:  The Iran team been refused VISA's to entry the USA.

Iran’s Football Federation have denied that story.

^ BBC News

The story has cleared. They aren't stopping in the US but looks like they'll be traveling in just to play their matches and then they'll go back to Mexico.

Which team will be next I wonder?

(26-05-2026 19:30 )Charlemagne Wrote:  ^ BBC News

The story has cleared. They aren't stopping in the US but looks like they'll be traveling in just to play their matches and then they'll go back to Mexico.

No, that's a different story. You're getting two quite different stories muddled up.

Your original story, that the Iran team had been refused visas to enter the USA (and therefore wouldn't be able to play in the World Cup), is the story that's been denied.

The story you linked to, a separate story, is that the Iran team will be given visas, but have asked FIFA's permission to move their training camp from Texas to Mexico.

^ No it's the same story.

No, it isn't the same story. There is still a visa problem, which is ongoing. The training camp move is a different matter and hasn't resolved the visa problem.

You posted yesterday that the Iran team had "been refused visas", but in fact no decision has yet been made. So although your story that they had been refused visas was wrong, they haven't been granted visas yet either. At the time of writing, the applications are still under review, as the US State Department is still processing them.

Even FIFA are not commenting on the visa position at this point. Iran may get full visas, or they may get some kind of special visa to let them travel into the US for a day, or they may even get nothing and not be able to play their matches. At this time, we simply don't know.

The move of the Iran training camp from Texas to Mexico is definite though. That's a done deal. We know this for a fact, because FIFA has confirmed it.

So we still don't know if Iran can play or not?
And any truth to a post made by Sky News that we are likely to see empty stadiums?

No, we still don't know if Iran can play or not.

The Iran team only have to cross into the US from Mexico now, but the mechanics of exactly how they would do this for matches, and on what legal basis, remains undetermined. At this time even FIFA has not confirmed that Iran will definitely be allowed to play.

On 14 May Trump did say that Iran would be allowed to play, but Trump is unreliable and untrustworthy, and he changes his mind on things from day to day, so I don't know how much faith can be placed on his statement, if any. We'll just have to wait and see.

Whatever the fine details, the whole situation seems bonkers to me.

In 1980, the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan and half the Western world followed its lead. Four years later, Iron Curtain countries boycotted the Los Angeles Games — ostensibly for security reasons, but really for spite.

But now we have a country that’s being bombed willing to play a football tournament in the country that’s bombing it?

What the hell??? … Has FIFA kidnapped the children of American / Iranian officials?