"THE visas," a US State department spokesperson had said, "necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued. We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences." In Los Angeles on Monday night (6.30 AM IST on Tuesday), Team Melli, who will have made the hours-long flight journey from Tijuana early on Monday, will face New Zealand.
One of the most politicised games in the history of the World Cup will commence. In the backdrop of an ongoing war but under the promise of a permanent ceasefire (according to latest reports, negotiations are still ongoing).
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As soon as the first US missiles landed in Iranian territory in the last week of February, Iran's participation in the World Cup appeared to be in jeopardy. How could it not be? They had just lost their head of state, killed by the government of the main co-host. One sixty eight people, mostly girls aged between seven and 12, were killed in another attack inside a school in southern Iran (international agencies including ones headquartered in the US have repeatedly said US missiles were found at the sight). Amnesty International, in a press release in March, found that the US violated international humanitarian law by failing to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm'.
Over the next two-and-a-half months, both sides traded gunfire and missiles. It's in this background that the Asian nation, denied ordinary visas to stay and train in the US like other teams, will face New Zealand.
The football World Cup has seen and survived a lot of things. The last World Cup was created and built on the back of migrant labourers from some of the poorest regions in Asia. The 1978 event in Argentina remains one of the dirtiest sporting events of all time.
But the World Cup has — had — never seen a participating nation play in a country while being at war with that nation. In almost a century, this sentence has never been written. 2026 has changed that.
After Iran's domestic league was suspended following strikes, all the players gathered in Turkiye to have a pre-World Cup training camp in May. While there, they also applied for visas. But even to get to Turkiye, they were on a 40-hour bus journey from Tehran per The Athletic. In all, they have had two camps — one in Tehran before the one in Antalya.
Apart from ensuring they were fresh and ready for the tournament — 17 of the 26 players of the national team come from the suspended domestic league — the purpose of the camp was to ensure they played a few friendlies and trained together as a unit. There were also hectic backchannel talks between FIFA and the Iran officials. President Gianni Infantino even met the players and officials in March. "It was a pleasure to meet the players of the Iran national football team ahead of their friendly match against Costa Rica in Antalya," he had posted on his official Insta account. "I had the opportunity to spend time with the players, as well as Mehdi Mohammed Nabi, the First Vice President of the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran...
"Football brings unity and hope, even in the most challenging circumstances, and FIFA will continue to support the team to ensure the best possible conditions as they prepare for the FIFA World Cup. I look forward to seeing them deliver a positive message of humanity and togetherness to the world."
Considering the circumstances, they have given it a fair go. But the situation has been challenging for all of them. They were training in a land they couldn't call theirs, they had to keep checking in on their families who were in the middle of an actual warzone — idea of a single missed call enough to send them into a negative spiral — all the while preparing for some of the biggest games in their history.
"It's been very difficult," Alireza Jahanbaksh had told ESPN a few days ago. "You have to keep checking on your family, on your loved ones, on your people back home and of course it's affecting the group. As Team Melli, we try to do everything to make our people happy, especially in this situation."
Once they completed their camp in Antalya, they took a private jet to Tijuana — their original base was Arizona — where they would
spend all their nights and most days. When they landed in Mexico, they were wearing gold pins bearing the no 168 to remember the people who were killed in the missile strike (it's unlikely that FIFA will allow that gesture during their games). It acts as a constant reminder of the unique situation they find themselves in. The scars from back home.
It's in this context that the city they will play their first match in — Los Angeles — will also play a big role. It's generally known as the city with the highest number of Iranians outside Iran. In fact, there's a part of LA which goes by Tehrangeles (Tehran plus Los Angeles).
In a parallel universe, the Iranian team could have gone to this part of town and chilled with people and called them their own while sharing Persian food. Now? They won't even be allowed to stay overnight.
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'Sport', as per frequent refrain, is war minus the shooting. This one is sport with an active war and a lot of shooting. That's before you begin to consider the very real prospect of Iran facing the US in the Round of 32; it will happen if both teams finish runners-up in their groups.
