One week after expressing initial doubts, the president of the Iranian football federation, Mehdi Taj, once again cast doubt on Iran’s participation in the upcoming World Cup in the United States. Besides the bombings in the Middle East, the situation of players who sought asylum in Australia displeased Tehran.
The president of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, has once again questioned his country’s participation in the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, after five players from the women’s national team were granted asylum in Australia.
“The American president wrote two tweets asking for political asylum to be granted to our players (…) and if Australia did not do it, he would do it himself. He has made 160 martyrs by killing our girls in Minab and now he is taking our girls hostage. How can we be optimistic in these circumstances about the World Cup in the United States?” stated the head of the Iranian federation in an interview with the national television channel.
“If the World Cup takes place under these conditions, what sane mind would send their national team to such a place?” he also asserted, as Iran is scheduled to play their three group stage matches in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle, in a group with Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand.
Serious doubts already raised last week
Australia granted asylum to five players from the Iranian women’s national football team, labeled as “traitors” in their country for refusing to sing the national anthem before an Asia Cup match while the war raged in the Middle East since the start of the American-Israeli intervention in Iran on February 28, leading to the death of the former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This decision was made out of fear that they would be persecuted upon return, announced Interior Minister Tony Burke on Tuesday.
The athletes remained silent as the Iranian anthem played before their first Asia Cup match against South Korea, two days after the war began. They then sang it in subsequent games. This behavior was interpreted as an act of rebellion, and a state television presenter labeled the players as “traitors in wartime” representing the “height of dishonor.”
Many people subsequently called on Australia to ensure their safety, including President Donald Trump. Australians “are already taking care of five of them, and the rest will follow. However, some feel they have to return (to Iran) because they are afraid for their family’s safety,” Trump stated after a conversation with the Australian Prime Minister.
Mehdi Taj had already raised serious doubts last week about Iran’s participation in the World Cup shortly after the start of the American-Israeli attack. “What is clear right now is that with this attack and cruelty, we cannot look forward to the World Cup with hope,” he explained, while emphasizing that the final decision would rest with the country’s “sports authorities.”
