Iran will base their squad in the Mexican border city of Tijuana during this year’s World Cup after football’s world governing body FIFA approved a request to move their training camp from Arizona, the head of Iran’s football federation said on Saturday.
“We will be based in the Tijuana camp, which is near the Pacific Ocean and on the border between Mexico and the United States,” Iran’s Football Federation President Mehdi Taj said in a video posted on its Telegram social media account.
Taj added that the switch would help avoid visa-related complications following the US-Israel war on Iran, and that the squad would be able to fly directly to Mexico with Iran Air.
Iran will play their first two Group G matches in Los Angeles, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, before facing Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
“The total distance between us and the venue of our games in Los Angeles is 55 minutes by flight,” Taj said, adding that Tijuana was closer to their match venues than the team’s previously planned camp in Arizona.
Iran has faced uncertainty for months over travel and security arrangements for the World Cup, which will be cohosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, and had asked for their games to be moved from the US .
Iranian officials said this month that their players and staff had yet to receive US visas, less than a month before the start of the tournament. They began visa applications during their stay in Turkiye for pre-tournament training.
Taj said FIFA had been asked for guarantees over visas, security and the treatment of the Iranian delegation .
Iran are due to play Gambia in a friendly on May 29 before coach Amir Ghalenoei names his final 26-man World Cup squad by FIFA’s June 1 deadline.
The World Cup is from June 11 to July 19.
