FIFA President Gianni Infantino opened his address at Thursday’s FIFA Congress by affirming that Iran will participate in the World Cup and that the team will play in the United States despite the conflict between the two nations.
“And the reason for that is very simple, dear friends, is because we have to unite. We have to bring people together. It is my responsibility. It is our responsibility,” Infantino said.
“Football unites the world. FIFA unites the world. You unite the world. We unite the world.”
In an indication of how fraught the situation is with Iran’s participation in the World Cup, representatives from the Iranian soccer federation were denied entry into Canada this week.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said it was her “understanding” that the Iranian officials were turned away, following a report by Tasnim, an Iranian news agency associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The report said Iranian soccer federation president Mehdi Taj and two other officials were denied entry at Toronto’s airport.
Earlier in the week at the Asian soccer federation’s congress in Vancouver, Iran’s participation in the World Cup or whether the team’s matches should be moved out of the United States was not addressed.
At the roll call for the FIFA Congress where all nations were named, Iran was announced as absent.
Outside the event at the Vancouver Convention Center there was a small group of protestors holding Iranian flags.
Infantino has not wavered on Iran’s participation in the World Cup or in its matches in the United States.
At one point, Iran asked to move its games to Mexico, but that request was rejected.
The World Cup starts on June 11 and the final is scheduled for July 19 with games in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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