Iran ‘boycotting’ United States but not World Cup, football federation chief says
Mehdi Taj says his country ‘will be preparing for the World Cup’, with Mexico’s leader saying her country was prepared to host Iran’s matches
Iran will “boycott the United States” but “not the World Cup”, Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj said in a video released by the Iranian press agency Fars.
Iran is currently scheduled to play its group matches in the US in this year’s tournament.
“We will be preparing for the World Cup. We will boycott the United States but not the World Cup,” Taj said in the video released on Wednesday.
Iran’s football federation, FFIRI, said it had opened talks with Fifa about potentially relocating their matches from the US, though the global governing body had so far maintained that the tournament’s schedule remained unchanged.
Iran’s participation at this summer’s finals in the US, Canada and Mexico has been in doubt since the war began last month, with President Donald Trump warning that the safety of Iranian players would be at risk if they travelled to the US.