Iran complains FIFA failed to secure U.S. entry for World Cup officials

Iranian football officials say FIFA president Gianni Infantino did not keep his promises to guarantee full access for the team’s federation staff at World Cup matches in the United States. Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, Iran’s delegation chief for the tournament and vice president of the federation, told Reuters that 15 senior officials had their U.S. visa applications denied and therefore cannot travel with the national team. Nabi, who held the same role at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, spoke after Infantino’s press conference in Mexico City.

Nabi said he hoped Infantino would follow through on what he had told Iran’s team and insisted that FIFA’s rules and protocols must be fully respected by both member associations and host countries. He said, “I have never experienced such disorganization in a World Cup tournament,” adding that the visa issue hurt the players’ ability to acclimate and left Iran at a disadvantage compared with other teams.

The U.S. State Department has said the visa refusals were based on security concerns, arguing that the United States would not allow Iran to use the system to bring terrorists into the country “under false pretenses.” The U.S. has also denied visas to journalists from Iran and some African countries covering the tournament, imposed financial guarantees on citizens of countries with high visa overstay rates, and applied travel restrictions on citizens of four World Cup qualifying countries. Earlier this week, Somali referee Omar Artan was also denied entry despite holding a valid visa, on alleged ties to terrorist groups.

Nabi said Iran is the only team in the tournament from which such a large number of federation officials has been barred from entering the U.S. Iran midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi told Reuters that players have accepted that their family members will not be able to attend because of the visa restrictions, while FIFA had promised that the technical staff would receive entry permits. Ezatolahi said the team needs all of its staff, especially key aides, and described the players as trying to fight for “love,” meaning football, despite the war in Iran affecting them deeply.