Iran moves – Mehdi Taj says Iran’s World Cup training base has been moved to Tijuana, Mexico, after FIFA approval, aiming to avoid visa problems ahead of matches in California and beyond. FIFA has not confirmed the change.
A few days before Iran’s World Cup group campaign begins, the plan for where the team will train has changed—and it happened with one key decision aimed at travel friction.
Mehdi Taj. president of the Iran Football Federation. said Saturday that Iran’s World Cup training base has been moved to Mexico from the United States after receiving approval from FIFA. Taj delivered the announcement in a statement issued through the federation’s media relations official. with FIFA yet to confirm the move.
The federation says Team Melli will now be based in Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego. This year’s World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 and will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Taj framed the shift around FIFA’s requirement that every participating team’s base camp be approved. “All team base camps for the countries participating in the World Cup must be approved FIFA,” he said. He also pointed to the route the federation used to secure permission. describing “requests we submitted and the meetings we held with FIFA and World Cup officials in Istanbul. ” along with a “webinar meeting we had yesterday in the Tehran with the respected FIFA secretary general.”.
Iran’s schedule makes the timing especially clear. Team Melli plays Group G matches in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later. Iran then faces Egypt on June 26 in Seattle.
The federation says the proximity of Tijuana to Inglewood—an area in a Los Angeles suburb—will help the team. It also argues the new location is built for the job: Tijuana’s base “includes all training facilities, gym, private restaurant and everything else the team needs.”
Visa concerns sit at the center of the federation’s rationale. The federation said moving the base camp will resolve potential visa issues, explaining that the team will enter the U.S. through Mexico. Taj added that the team “may even be able to travel to and from Mexico using Iran Air flights.”
Iran is returning to football’s biggest stage for a fourth straight World Cup appearance and a seventh overall, though it has never advanced past the first round.
Base camps are used by teams for training ahead of matches and after them, and Iran’s change means their preparation in the U.S. portion of the tournament may look different than originally planned—especially with the Group G opener approaching in Inglewood on June 15.
Iran World Cup base camp Tijuana Mexico United States FIFA approval Mehdi Taj Team Melli Inglewood New Zealand Belgium Egypt