There is no sporting event in the world that enjoys such a feverish build-up to the main event. Such is the global appeal of the ‘beautiful game’ and the FIFA World Cup. However, the 2026 edition, the first to feature as many as 48 teams, has struggled to adhere to that trend. For many fans, excitement has given way to anger, frustration and despair.Long before a ball has been kicked, the disgruntled lot already appear convinced that the biggest World Cup in history will also go down as the worst.The negativity isn’t misplaced. Exorbitant ticket prices, strict travel bans and visa delays and skyrocketing public transport costs all don’t exactly help build a festive atmosphere. Nor does war for that matter, particularly one sparked by one of the three host nations.
More than three months after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, the ripple effects continue to be felt by a tournament that football fans normally cannot wait for. A World Cup taking place in the backdrop of a military conflict is itself not a new phenomenon. After all, the tournament was put on hold after 1938 for 12 years because of the second World War.The infamous ‘Football War’ between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969 cast an ugly shadow over the 1970 World Cup hosted by Mexico, as did the Falklands War fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom just days before the 1982 World Cup kicked off in Spain.This, however, is notably the first time we have a host nation at war with one of the participating countries.That inevitably raised doubts over Iran’s participation in the tournament, doubts that the United States president Donald Trump hardly helped allay. “The Iran national soccer team is welcome to the World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” Trump wrote in a social media post back in March.Not surprisingly, the Iran national team was quick to respond to what they viewed as a veiled threat. “The only country that could be excluded is one that merely carries the title of ‘host’ yet lacks the ability to provide security for the teams participating in this global event,” the team posted on Instagram.What has unfolded since then has been nothing short of a PR disaster for FIFA, the game’s global governing body.As far as Iran was concerned, football could wait. There was the matter of first obtaining US visas, a process that the Iranian players and team officials may have guessed would turn out to be a battle in its own right. And that it certainly was.After weeks of uncertainty, the players were all granted visas last Friday — 10 days before their opening game against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15. The drama, though, didn’t quite end there, as Iran’s football federation revealed several members of the squad, including “key managerial and administrative members”, were refused visas.As the Iranian team touched down in Tijuana this week amid tight security, Abolfazl Pasandideh, Iran’s ambassador in Mexico, said 15 members were not granted visas to enter the US according to a media report. The response from the US state department was a good indication of how the world’s most popular sport has turned into a political weapon, while FIFA stands idly by.“We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the US under false pretences,” a state department official told the media.Was it any surprise then, to see Iran opt to switch their training base from Arizona to Mexico? If they have had to endure a hellish ride simply to get to the World Cup, the road ahead hardly offers much comfort. The players may have received their visas, but Pasandideh added that they were granted on the strict condition that the team would enter and exit US soil on the same day as their scheduled matches.It’s not just the Iranians, though, who have been dealt harsh treatment by American authorities. Iraq’s leading striker Aymen Hussein was detained and interrogated by US customs and border patrol agents at Chicago airport for seven hours before he was permitted to enter the country. The team’s official photographer, however, was sent back. So too, Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who was named Africa’s best male referee in 2025 and would have been the first from his country to officiate at a World Cup.The development once again cast the spotlight on the strict immigration policies put in place by the Trump administration, with a travel ban imposed on citizens of 12 countries, including Somalia.Journalists and fans haven’t been spared either. A BBC report, citing analysis of travel data, states “fans from more than a quarter of the countries taking part in the World Cup are facing travel bans, tighter restrictions or high visa rejection rates”.The president of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), Gianni Merlo, meanwhile, has urged FIFA to intervene, in a letter to the governing body, in which he has described the visa situation that’s impacted many journalists, including those from Iran and African nations, as “unacceptable”.Criticism of the Trump administration’s hardline stance on immigration has even come from prominent voices within, with New York mayor Zohran Mamdani ruing how such measures clashed with the tournament’s very ethos. “This is anathema to what this tournament is supposed to be about,” Mamdani, a lifelong football fan, told reporters.Hard questions, at least from some sections of the media, have been asked of FIFA, including allegations of double standards over its differing approaches to Russia’s war with Ukraine and the US-Israel attack on Iran. Some have also asked if the US’s strong reluctance to host Iran is any different from Indonesia’s firm opposition to Israel’s participation in the U-20 World Cup three years ago. That led to FIFA stripping the Southeast Asian country of hosting rights.TOI raised these questions to FIFA’s media team in an email sent a week ago. At the time of going to press, the governing body was yet to respond.Even as the war shows no sign of receding, fate may yet deliver a spicy twist to this World Cup story. Should Iran and the US each finish second in their groups, the two nations could clash in the round of 32. Bear in mind, that potential blockbuster would take place on July 3, a day before the US celebrates its 250th anniversary of independence — a salivating prospect, maybe even for the disgruntled lot.The beautiful game, played in arguably the ugliest of times!
