Iran changes its base for the 2026 World Cup: instead of Tucson, the national team will be based in Tijuana
The Iranian national football team will change its planned base for the 2026 World Cup and, instead of staying in Tucson in the U.S. state of Arizona, will be based in Tijuana, Mexico, the Iranian Football Federation announced. According to a statement by federation president Mehdi Taj, the request for relocation was accepted by FIFA after talks with representatives of world football’s governing body. It is a logistically important decision ahead of the tournament, which will be held from June 11 to July 19, 2026, in the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. The change concerns the national team’s accommodation and training base, not the match schedule. According to FIFA’s current schedule, Iran will still play its Group G matches in Los Angeles and Seattle.
The decision followed a period of uncertainty surrounding the organization of Iran’s stay in the United States. According to the Iranian federation’s announcement and Associated Press reports, the reasons cited for the change include security circumstances, travel logistics and possible visa problems. Iran was originally supposed to use the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, a facility previously announced as the official base for the national team’s preparations during the tournament. After the change of plan, the federation stated that Tijuana was chosen because of its proximity to Southern California, the availability of training conditions and the possibility of easier travel management between Mexico and the American host cities.
Matches remain in the United States
According to FIFA’s competition schedule, Iran is in Group G with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. It will play its first group match against New Zealand at the stadium in Los Angeles, followed by a meeting with Belgium, also in Los Angeles, while the third match against Egypt is scheduled for Seattle. FIFA’s official website continues to list American cities as the venues for those matches. This means that moving the base to Mexico does not change the sporting schedule, but rather the way in which the national team will organize its stay between training sessions, travel and matches.
That distinction is important because discussions had previously appeared about the possibility of changing the venues of Iran’s matches. According to the information available, no such decision has been made. The Iranian federation, according to Mehdi Taj’s statement, sought a solution that would allow the national team to keep its competition program while at the same time reducing organizational risks connected with a longer stay in the United States. Tijuana is located immediately next to the border with the United States, south of San Diego, so the national team can travel relatively quickly from that base toward Los Angeles. The journey to Seattle remains considerably longer, but it is still travel within the North American logistics network planned for the tournament.
According to statements from the Iranian federation reported by the Associated Press, the talks included meetings with FIFA representatives in Istanbul and a subsequent videoconference. Taj emphasized that all national team bases at the World Cup must receive FIFA approval. At the time the available agency reports were published, FIFA had not separately publicly confirmed the decision in the way the Iranian federation had, which is why it is most accurate to say that the change was announced and explained from Tehran, along with the Iranian side’s claim that approval had been obtained. Such wording is especially important in situations in which organizational decisions intertwine with political and security circumstances.
Why Tucson was originally chosen
Tucson had been presented in an earlier phase of preparations as the official training base of the Iranian national team. According to announcements by local organizations and sports stakeholders in Arizona, the Kino Sports Complex had been selected as a site that meets FIFA standards for training, accommodation of support services and organization of the national team’s stay. In local announcements, the complex was highlighted as an important sports project for Southern Arizona, and preparations included adapting the grass pitches, organizing security procedures, hotel capacities and accompanying spaces for the team. Local tourism and sports actors had previously emphasized that bringing a national team to the World Cup represented a significant opportunity to promote the city.
According to those announcements, Iran was supposed to arrive in Tucson at the beginning of June and use it as a base during the group stage, and potentially afterward if it qualified for the knockout stage. Such camps at major tournaments are not only places for training. They include accommodation for players and the coaching staff, recovery areas, medical care, security, communication with organizers, nutrition and travel planning. A change of base is therefore not an administrative detail, but a decision that changes the national team’s daily rhythm, coordination with the hosts and transport schedule.
However, the circumstances surrounding Iran’s participation in the tournament became more sensitive because of the broader political context and security issues. According to agency reports, the Iranian federation particularly emphasized in its decision the uncertainty connected with visas and travel. In practice, major tournaments require entry not only for players, but also for the coaching staff, doctors, security personnel, administration, logistics staff, media representatives and other members of the delegation. If uncertainty arises around the timely issuing of documents or a longer stay, the federation must have an operational plan that reduces the risk of delays and disruptions to preparations.
Tijuana as a compromise between logistics and security
Tijuana was chosen as a base that allows the national team to remain outside the United States for most of its preparations, while maintaining relative proximity to one of the key cities in the group. Los Angeles is the host of Iran’s first two matches, and those two fixtures are precisely the most important from both a sporting and organizational perspective at the start of the tournament. According to the Iranian federation, the city in Mexico offers equipped training conditions, and its geographical position can make the crossing toward California easier on match days. Such a model reduces the need for the entire delegation to stay for a longer period in the United States, but it does not remove the need to enter the country on competition days and for official activities connected with matches.
From an organizational standpoint, moving the base may have advantages, but also challenges. The advantage is the reduction of part of the uncertainty surrounding a long stay on American territory. The challenge is the fact that the national team must plan cross-border travel, entry procedures, security routes, equipment transport and time reserves for possible delays. For national teams at the World Cup, details of this kind often determine how much the team will be able to focus on training and recovery, and how much on administrative and logistical issues. That is why decisions about bases are made in cooperation with FIFA, local organizers and national federations.
In this case, Tijuana appears as a practical solution because of its position on the border with California. The city is part of a large cross-border urban zone connected with San Diego, while Los Angeles is significantly closer than most other host cities in the United States. For the Iranian national team, this means that travel to the first two matches could be organized with fewer changes than if a more distant Mexican location had been chosen. Still, a separate travel plan will be needed for the match in Seattle, because it involves a considerable distance on the west coast of North America.
The broader context of a tournament with 48 national teams
The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition with 48 national teams and 104 matches. According to FIFA, the tournament will be played in 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Such a format brings significantly more complex organization than previous editions with 32 national teams. Teams must plan a larger number of potential journeys, a longer tournament schedule and differences in distances, time zones and climatic conditions. For that reason, team bases have become one of the key topics of preparations, especially for national teams whose matches are played in different cities.
Iran has qualified for its fourth consecutive World Cup, and according to FIFA data the national team has not yet advanced beyond the group stage at final tournaments. In Group G, it faces a demanding competitive schedule against European Belgium, African Egypt and New Zealand. Belgium enters the group as the biggest name, Egypt has a national team with extensive international experience, while New Zealand traditionally brings a different style of play and physically demanding matches. For Iran, the opening match against New Zealand in Los Angeles will be especially important because the result of that match could shape its entire group-stage campaign.
The change of base does not necessarily have to have a direct sporting effect, but it changes the preparatory framework in which the national team will operate. Teams at major tournaments try to reduce unforeseen circumstances, and the stability of the stay, the quality of the pitches and the predictability of transport are often considered part of competitive preparation. If the new base in Tijuana meets the conditions stated by the federation, Iran could avoid part of the administrative difficulties. If, however, cross-border travel proves to create additional complications, the decision could open new questions about day-to-day organization.
Political circumstances accompany sporting preparations
Iran’s participation in the 2026 World Cup has long been followed beyond the sporting framework. The tournament is being played to a large extent in the United States, while relations between Washington and Tehran are burdened by long-standing diplomatic, security and political tensions. According to agency reports, these very circumstances intensified questions about security and travel procedures for the Iranian delegation. FIFA had previously emphasized that Iran remains a participant in the tournament and that matches are being played according to the schedule, while Iranian representatives sought organizational guarantees that would enable a safe and feasible appearance.
In such circumstances, the national team’s base becomes more than a sporting issue. It includes coordination with state institutions, border services, local police, competition organizers and FIFA. Every change must be implemented early enough to arrange hotels, pitches, transport, security measures and communication with the hosts. Since the tournament is approaching, the decision announced on May 24, 2026, leaves relatively little time for final adjustments, but still enough for the national team to coordinate the beginning of its final preparations before the first match.
According to the information available, the change of base does not mean that Iran is avoiding playing in the United States, but that it is trying to reduce the duration and scope of its stay there. According to the schedule, the team will have to travel to Los Angeles and Seattle for matches, and official procedures for such travel will remain part of the preparations. This is an important distinction compared with possible political interpretations of the decision. The sporting schedule remains unchanged, while the organizational model is being changed in order to reduce the risks that the Iranian side identified in the earlier plan.
What the decision means for hosts and fans
For Tucson, the change of plans is the loss of a significant international sporting presence. Local stakeholders had previously invested effort in preparing the base, and the arrival of a national team at the World Cup would have represented visible promotion for the city and the sports complex. According to Associated Press reports, there was no comment from the Kino Sports Complex after the announcement of the change. Such restraint is understandable because, according to the information available, this is a decision made at the level of the national federation and FIFA, not the local organizer.
For fans and the wider public, the most important information is that Iran’s matches are not being moved from American cities. The first part of the tournament for the Iranian national team remains tied to Los Angeles and Seattle, which means that ticket sales, security plans and match organization remain connected with the existing schedule. Any changes in the national team’s movement between the base and the stadium will probably not be visible to the wider public, but they will be important for organizers, police, security services and team operations staff. FIFA’s model of a major tournament with multiple host countries shows precisely in such situations how much logistics and diplomacy are connected with sport.
For Iran, the decision is an attempt to harmonize its sporting goal with real limitations. The national team wants to appear at the tournament without additional disruptions, while the federation seeks to protect the continuity of preparations and the safety of the delegation. A final assessment of the success of that move will be possible only after the team begins its stay at the new base and after the first journeys toward the matches are carried out. Until then, the fact remains that the change of base is the most significant organizational correction of Iran’s preparations for the 2026 World Cup, while the competitive schedule in Group G does not change for now.
Sources:
- Associated Press – report on the Iranian Football Federation’s announcement, the reasons for the change of base and Mehdi Taj’s statements (link)
- FIFA – official match schedule of the 2026 World Cup and the Iranian national team’s matches in Group G (link)
- FIFA – overview of Group G at the 2026 World Cup (link)
- Visit Tucson – earlier announcement on the selection of the Kino Sports Complex as the base for the Iranian national team (link)
- FC Tucson – local announcement on the selection of the Kino Sports Complex for the preparations of the Iranian national team (link)