Few World Cups in history have produced a logistical arrangement quite like this one.
FIFA has officially approved the relocation of Iran’s 2026 World Cup base camp from Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, after Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taj confirmed the move following extensive negotiations with FIFA officials in Istanbul and through virtual discussions with top FIFA leadership. Iran will train at facilities connected to professional Mexican football in Tijuana — a border city of two million people separated from San Diego, California by one of the most heavily crossed international borders in the world.
Despite relocating its base camp, Iran will play its group stage matches in the United States. Their opener against New Zealand on June 15 and their second match against Belgium on June 21 are both scheduled at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, while their final group stage fixture against Egypt on June 27 will take place at Lumen Field in Seattle.
Every match day, the Iranian national football team will cross the San Ysidro port of entry — the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere — to play a World Cup match in a country whose military, in partnership with Israel, killed their Supreme Leader three months ago.
How It Got Here
The context that produced this arrangement is unlike anything FIFA has navigated in its 122-year history.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran started on February 28, 2026. Iranian sports minister Ahmad Donyamali said last week that its players could not participate in football’s global showpiece after the U.S. and Israel launched air attacks on the country in late February, killing the Supreme Leader and several other political and military leaders.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media that he does not feel it is appropriate for Iran to participate in the World Cup due to safety concerns — while also saying the Iranian team is welcome to participate. The dual message — you’re welcome, but maybe it’s not safe for you — was read by the Iranian federation as neither a guarantee nor a prohibition, and they responded by pressing FIFA for alternatives.
Iranian Football Federation president Mehdi Taj stated: “When Trump has explicitly stated that he cannot ensure the security of the Iranian national team, we will certainly not travel to America.” Iran’s initial request was to move its group stage matches entirely to Mexico. FIFA refused.
FIFA stated there will be no schedule changes to the World Cup.
“FIFA is in regular contact with all participating member associations, including IR Iran, to discuss planning for the FIFA World Cup 2026. FIFA is looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on 6 December 2025.”
What FIFA did agree to was the base camp relocation — a compromise that keeps Iran in the tournament, keeps the match schedule intact, and places the Iranian delegation in Mexican territory for the duration of their stay except on match days.
The Visa Question
The most operationally significant unresolved element of Iran’s World Cup participation is the visa.
Iranian Minister of Sports Ahmad Donyamali said FIFA president Infantino personally promised that all Iranian players would receive U.S. entry visas.
“The president of FIFA promised us that all of our players would receive a visa. There is no reason why our players should not receive a visa,” the minister declared.
An Infantino personal assurance is not a U.S. State Department visa. The Trump administration’s travel restrictions on Iranian nationals — in place in various forms since 2017 and tightened significantly following the February 2026 military strikes — create a legal and bureaucratic framework that FIFA’s president cannot override.
The question of whether the U.S. government will issue athlete visas to members of a national team from a country it is currently at war with is one that no amount of FIFA negotiation fully resolves.
Iran’s arrival strengthens Mexico’s role as a key training and preparation hub for several national teams during the World Cup, with six other nations also basing themselves in Mexico.
For Tijuana specifically — a city that has spent years navigating the complications of its border position — hosting the Iranian national football team during a period of active U.S.-Iran hostilities is a security and diplomatic calculation that Mexican authorities are managing with notable pragmatism.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country would have no problem hosting Iran’s World Cup matches if FIFA had agreed to relocate them. She did not get that opportunity — but she is getting something almost as politically significant: the Iranian team on Mexican soil for the duration of the group stage, with all the diplomatic symbolism that implies for a Mexican government that has consistently positioned itself as independent of Washington's foreign policy posture.
What Happens On Match Day
The practical mechanics of Iran’s match day logistics are worth understanding concretely.
Tijuana and San Diego are connected by the San Ysidro Port of Entry — the busiest land border crossing in the world, processing approximately 70,000 northbound crossings per day under normal conditions. On June 15, the day of Iran’s opener against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the Iranian delegation will cross that border — either by land or through the Cross Border Xpress terminal, which connects Tijuana’s airport directly to San Diego — and travel approximately 120 miles north to Los Angeles.
They will play in front of a stadium capacity of 70,000 in one of the largest Iranian diaspora communities outside Iran itself — Los Angeles’s Iranian-American population is estimated at 500,000 to 700,000 people.
The political and emotional dimensions of that specific match, in that specific city, with that specific audience, defy simple characterization. Many Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles are fierce opponents of the Islamic Republic’s government. Many others will want to cheer for their national team regardless of the political context.
The Inglewood crowd on June 15 will be unlike any in World Cup history.
After the match, the Iranian team returns to Tijuana. They will do it again on June 21 for Belgium, and on June 27 for Egypt — each time crossing the most militarized border in the Americas to play football in the country currently at war with theirs.
One For the Ages
Iran’s Tijuana arrangement is the most visible manifestation of what observers have been calling the most politically charged World Cup in the tournament’s history.
But Iran’s situation goes beyond the general political atmosphere of the tournament. It is specific, unprecedented, and logistically improbable: a national team based in a Mexican border city, crossing into the United States on three separate occasions to play World Cup matches, with visas personally guaranteed by the FIFA president and two nations participating in the tournament at war with one another.
FIFA’s motto for the 2026 tournament is “The greatest show on Earth.”
In Tijuana, the World Cup is playing out in ways that nobody planned, and it will be one for the ages.
