Iran was allowed to come to the US earlier for the final match at the World Cup
Iran has had its travel restrictions eased into the US, allowing the team to arrive earlier for their final World Cup group match against Egypt. The decision comes after complaints about previous travel restrictions affecting their ability to compete at the tournament.
Iran was allowed by the US Department of Homeland Security to arrive in the United States a day early to prepare for the final match of the World Cup group stage on Friday. The change in immigration policy comes after ongoing complaints from members of the Iranian team that travel restrictions are affecting their ability to compete at the tournament. The team will now be able to fly from their base in Tijuana, Mexico on Wednesday, two days before the match against Egypt in Seattle to help with preparations. In previous matches in Los Angeles against New Zealand (2-2) and Belgium (0-0), they were only allowed to travel the day before the match. "For Iran's third game in Seattle on June 26, the team was allowed to enter the United States two days before the game. The Iran team will still be required to leave immediately after the game ends. Security measures and overall protocols remain the same. We are committed to providing the safest possible tournament for players, staff and fans," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA task force, told the Associated Press that they always planned to monitor the team's movements in the first two matches, and "if everything went well" they would give Iran an "extra day" due to the longer travel time. Even though Iran were granted extra time before the match, they were told they would have to fly back from Seattle — 1,000 miles from their training base in Mexico and a two-to-three-hour flight — immediately after the match, which took place at 8 p.m. local time. "They said we have to leave now," Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei said through an interpreter after the team's opening match against New Zealand. "We're really worried about it. We don't know why they brought us back, to be honest. It seems very strange. It seems like other people are making plans for us." He continued: "Our team is the most downtrodden team in the entire World Cup." Iran's Football Federation (FFIRI) said last week that it planned to file a formal complaint with FIFA over the team's travel arrangements at the World Cup. Iran is currently ranked second in Group G with two points after two matches and is trying to reach the knockout round of the World Cup for the first time. Athletic has also been informed by a source close to the Iranian team that members of the travel team who were initially denied visas to the US are still banned from entering the country. Before the team left its pre-World Cup base in Türkiye, 13 members of the support staff were not allowed into the United States and remained in Mexico while the matches took place. When the football team flew from Türkiye to Mexico, they wore pin #168 on their lapel to commemorate the number of children killed in a shooting at an elementary school on the first day of the US-Iran conflict — February 28, 2026 — according to information from Iran's Foreign Ministry. In a message left on the whiteboard at Sofi Stadium after the match against Belgium, #168 and #Minab were written in red pen. At a practice session on Tuesday, flags with this hashtag were hung on the practice field, which was open to the media for the first 15 minutes. Then, on Tuesday, the team released a video — enhanced by AI — depicting the football team entering the field holding the hands of the children who were killed. FIFA was asked by Athletic if they were looking into these incidents and whether they breached measures banning political messages. The White House has been contacted for comment on the video release.
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