{"id":73294,"date":"2026-04-01T18:04:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=73294"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:04:19","slug":"iran-to-play-world-cup-matches-in-us-says-infantino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=73294","title":{"rendered":"Iran to play World Cup matches in US, says Infantino"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gianni Infantino has made it clear that Iran will play its scheduled matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the United States, dismissing speculation about a possible venue change.<\/p>\n<p>The FIFA president\u2019s statement comes amid reports suggesting that Iran was seeking to move its matches to Mexico over security concerns. The Iranian Football Federation had recently confirmed it was in discussions regarding a potential shift, citing safety issues.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Mexico\u2019s leadership had also indicated readiness to host Iran\u2019s opening fixtures if required.<\/p>\n<p>However, Infantino reiterated that all matches will be played strictly according to the official draw.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, with the tournament set to kick off on June 11.<\/p>\n<p>Iran is scheduled to play its opening match against New Zealand in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>The development follows recent remarks by Donald Trump, who had warned of potential security risks and advised the Iranian team against participating in the tournament, drawing a strong reaction from Tehran.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA has meanwhile stressed that all qualified teams will take part in the mega event, underscoring football\u2019s role in promoting peace and unity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gianni Infantino has made it clear that Iran will play its scheduled matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the United States, dismissing speculation about a possible venue change. The FIFA president\u2019s statement comes amid reports suggesting that Iran was seeking to move its matches to Mexico over security concerns. The Iranian Football Federation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":73295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,136],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[213],"class_list":{"0":"post-73294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest","8":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Iran to play World Cup matches in US, says Infantino<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=73294\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iran to play World Cup matches in US, says Infantino\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gianni Infantino has made it clear that Iran will play its scheduled matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the United States, dismissing speculation about a possible venue change. The FIFA president\u2019s statement comes amid reports suggesting that Iran was seeking to move its matches to Mexico over security concerns. The Iranian Football Federation [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=73294\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Urdu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T13:04:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Infantino-scaled-scaled.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1729\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"LORD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"LORD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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