Iranian football association withdraws from Canadian FIFA gathering amid airport dispute

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2026 FIFA WORLD CUP

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Top Iranian football officials have left Canada before the start of the FIFA Congress because of the behaviour of officials during immigration checks at Toronto’s international airport, Iranian media reported Wednesday.

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Iran’s football federation president and deputy secretary general “returned to Turkey on the first flight due to the inappropriate behaviour of the immigration officials at the airport and the insult to one of the most honourable organs of the Iranian Armed Forces”, several outlets reported, without providing further details.

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In 2024, Canada designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terror group, barring its members from entering the country.

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The Iranian reports said the officials had travelled to Canada with “official visas” before turning around.

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Canada is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with the United States and Mexico, while FIFA’s congress is to be held in Vancouver this week.

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Fears have risen about the Iranian team’s attendance because of the Middle East war that began on February 28 with a massive wave of US-Israel attacks.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted last week that Iran’s footballers would be welcome at the global spectacle.

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But he warned that the United States may yet bar entry to members of the Iranian delegation it judged to have ties to the Revolutionary Guard, which is also designated a terrorist organisation by Washington and several other governments.

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No one “from the US has told them they can’t come,” Rubio said.

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The Iranian football federation (FFIRI) had said in April it was negotiating with FIFA to relocate the country’s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico.

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But FIFA President Gianni Infantino told AFP last month that Iran would be at the World Cup and that they will play “where they are supposed to be, according to the draw”.

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The FIFA chief reiterated that stance in Washington earlier this month.

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