The team will still play its group stage matches in the U.S. but its base has been moved to Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego, California, a move that Iran’s soccer federation announced recently and that was formally confirmed by FIFA, the sport’s governing body, on Monday.
Moving the training base comes against the backdrop of the war in Iran, which the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28.
Sheinbaum said at a news conference Monday that she was told by a FIFA representative the U.S. was reluctant to have the Iranian soccer team spend time outside the games on U.S. territory.
“The United States doesn’t want the Iranian national team to stay overnight in the United States,” Sheinbaum told reporters. She said a FIFA representative had then asked, “Can they stay overnight in Mexico?”
“And we said, ‘Yes, no problem. We have no issue with that’,” she said.
