FIFA president Infantino attends Iran friendly in Turkey

FIFA president Gianni Infantino attended a friendly in Turkey between Iran, whose participation in this year’s World Cup is in doubt, and Costa Rica on Tuesday.

The Iranian football federation has said it is “negotiating” with FIFA to relocate the country’s World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico, due to the US and Israel’s war with Iran.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that her country is prepared to host Iran’s first-round matches at the 2026 World Cup if needed.

Infantino initially said that Trump had given assurances that the Iranian team — scheduled to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, followed by Egypt in Seattle — would still be welcome.

But Trump then stated that Iran’s football team should not travel to the tournament “for their own life and safety”.

Iran hit back at Trump’s comments, saying that “no one can exclude Iran’s national team from the World Cup”.

Infantino took his seat in the stands for Tuesday’s match near Antalya.

His attendance had not been previously announced and media were kept away from the stand where he was sitting.

Iran also played a friendly against Nigeria in Turkish town Belek last Friday.

The players wore black armbands and posed with school rucksacks as the national anthem played to remember the victims of a strike on a primary school in Iran on the first day of the Middle East war.

The airstrike on the school in the southern Iranian city of Minab on February 28 killed at least 170 people including students and teachers.

The New York Times has reported that the preliminary findings of a US military investigation indicate that a US Tomahawk cruise missile hit the school due to a targeting mistake.