Despite Iran’s sports minister stating that the country cannot participate amid the war with the United States, along with President Donald Trump voicing concerns for the players’ “life and safety,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino is confident Iran will play in the FIFA World Cup this summer in North America.
“We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation, that would definitely help,” Infantino told CNBC on Tuesday. “But Iran has to come, of course. They represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”
Infantino said he was recently in Antalya, Turkey, to visit with the Iranian team at its training camp and said the team wants to participate in the World Cup.
“They should play — sports should be outside of politics,” Infantino said. “Now, OK — we don’t live on the moon, we live on planet Earth, but if there is nobody else that believes in building bridges and in keeping them intact and together, well we are doing that.”
Iran, one of the first teams to qualify for the World Cup — which is projected to generate more than $11 billion in revenue — is scheduled to play all three of its group stages in the U.S.
Iran is slated to open against New Zealand on June 15 then face Belgium on June 21, with both matches in Los Angeles. On June 26, Iran is scheduled to oppose Egypt in Seattle. Should Iran advance, the rest of its games would also be held in the U.S.
Iran requested FIFA move its games to Mexico, which is hosting games along with the U.S. and Canada, but was denied.
A national team has not withdrawn from a FIFA World Cup since 1950, the first tournament held after World War II.
The cost of tickets and the safety of the millions of fans traveling from all over the world have also been significant concerns for organizers.
Amid “an unprecedented demand for tickets,” Infantino said there were more than 500 million ticket requests.
“Security is obviously key, it’s crucial, it’s important,” he said. “You can, of course, always hear and read there are bans or this and that, but the fact is, we received ticket requests from all 211 countries. Everybody’s coming and everybody wants to come.”
So for Infantino, what would qualify as a successful World Cup?
“A win would be that we have a successful World Cup from a security point of view, so no incidents,” he said. “And from a football point of view, great matches, great games, excitement for the people.”
–Field Level Media
