Iran’s national soccer team is playing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup under conditions no other squad faces: a strict travel window that requires them to enter the United States within 24 hours of each match, then leave the country immediately after the final whistle.
Their base of operations is not in any of the gleaming US host cities. It’s Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border from San Diego, where the team shuttles back and forth between countries.
The logistics of exclusion
The 2026 World Cup is co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico. All 31 players and coaching staff received US visas, so the squad itself can technically cross the border. But 11 team officials were denied entry entirely, cited for unspecified “derogatory information.”
That denial cascaded into a much bigger problem. Iran had originally planned to set up a training base in Tucson, Arizona. US objections killed that plan, and the team relocated to Tijuana instead.
