Iran Football Team Heads to Mexico via Spain

In a photo shared by Iran's presidency, President Masoud Pezeshkian stands with players from the Iranian national football team during a farewell event before they leave for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Tehran on May 13, 2026. Photo: AFP

Iran's football team is set to depart for Spain this weekend as they make their way to their World Cup location in Mexico, even though they are still waiting for their visas, according to the head of the country's football federation.

The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

As of now, neither the United States, where Iran will have three group stage matches, nor Mexico, where the team will stay during the tournament, have issued visas for the players.

"We will leave for Spain on Saturday, and from there the team will go directly to Tijuana in Mexico," Mehdi Taj, the football federation chief, said on Monday during a sports program on state television.

"We will obtain a Mexican visa tomorrow (Tuesday) or the day after, and then a US visa will be issued quickly," Taj added.

Iran is in Group G and will face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and 21. They will then play against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

Taj mentioned that the Middle East war, which began on February 28 with attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran, "changed everything" for Team Melli.

"The situation in the country, and especially the war, has upended all our plans," Taj said.

"We had arranged good warm-up matches, including one against Spain, which was cancelled" in February.

Due to the tensions from the Middle East war, the Iranians moved their World Cup base from Tucson in Arizona to Tijuana, a city on the northwestern border of Mexico.

Currently, Iran is preparing for the tournament in Turkey.

On Friday, they won a friendly match against Gambia 3-1 in Antalya. They will face Mali in another warm-up match on Thursday.

Taj expressed concerns that the team's World Cup preparations have also been impacted by "financial difficulties" due to the economic crisis in the country and the significant drop in the value of the rial against the dollar.