Iran’s Ministry of Sports has prohibited all national and club teams from traveling to countries it considers hostile, a sweeping directive that immediately threatens the country’s participation in the Asian Champions League and has thrown its attendance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup into deeper uncertainty, despite no direct mention of the tournament in the ban.
The ministry’s statement, issued Thursday and reported by Iranian state television, singled out Tractor FC’s playoff game against Shabab Al Ahli of Dubai, an Emirati club, which was to be played in Saudi Arabia in April as part of the Asian Champions League Elite.
“The presence of national and club teams in countries that are considered hostile and are unable to ensure the security of Iranian athletes and team members is prohibited until further notice,” it said. The football federation and clubs were directed to notify the Asian Football Confederation and seek relocation of affected matches.
The directive did not publish a list of countries deemed hostile, leaving a significant interpretive gap with direct consequences for multiple competitions. The Asian Football Confederation drew the quarterfinal pairings on Wednesday, one day after announcing that the war-delayed western zone playoffs had been rescheduled for April 13 and 14 in the Saudi city of Jeddah, which is also set to host the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final from April 16 to 25. Those plans now face direct disruption as Tractor FC’s involvement in the tournament appears impossible under the new prohibition unless the AFC agrees to move the fixtures to a neutral venue.
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The more significant unresolved question surrounds the World Cup. Iran has qualified for the 48-nation tournament, which begins June 11 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. All three of the Iranian national team’s group-stage matches are scheduled to take place on American soil. Because the United States is among the countries Iran now classifies as hostile under the terms of the ban, the ban effectively makes it impossible for Team Melli to compete unless an exemption is granted or the fixtures are relocated. However, the ministry’s Thursday statement made no reference to the World Cup, leaving the matter formally unresolved.
Efforts to find a workaround have been ongoing for weeks. Iran’s ambassador to Mexico has confirmed that Tehran was in negotiations with FIFA to shift its group-stage matches from the United States to Mexico, citing the security of Iranian players following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran since February 28. FIFA President Gianni Infantino publicly discouraged that path last week, saying the governing body intended for the tournament to proceed as scheduled. Iranian government officials have said consistently that they do not wish to boycott the competition but that attending in the United States was not feasible under current conditions.
The national team’s internal situation has also deteriorated. Striker Sardar Azmoun, one of Iran’s leading goal-scorers, was expelled from the squad after a photograph of him with a Gulf official circulated publicly, with Iranian authorities ordering the seizure of his assets. Mehdi Taremi, who plays for Olympiacos, became a separate focus of controversy after reports emerged that he exchanged jerseys with an Israeli player following a club match. Additionally, six members of the Iranian women’s national team and one staff member who participated in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia refused to sing the national anthem and applied for asylum, prompting condemnation from Iranian authorities.
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The Iranian national squad was training in Antalya, Turkey, as of Friday, ahead of scheduled friendly internationals against Nigeria later in the day and Costa Rica on Tuesday. Whether those matches can proceed depends on whether Turkey is among the nations classified as hostile under the ministry’s order, a determination that had not been confirmed publicly by Thursday evening.
The AFC had not issued a formal response to the ban as of Friday morning. Under AFC regulations, clubs are responsible for participating in assigned fixtures, and failure to compete without approved cause can result in disqualification. Whether Tractor FC will be treated as a withdrawing party or whether the AFC will grant a venue change request under the exceptional circumstances of a wartime directive remains to be determined. FIFA has also not commented on the implications of Thursday’s directive for World Cup qualification. Iran’s next scheduled fixtures in the tournament are set for the group stage in June, with a deadline for any venue change request to FIFA still to be publicly confirmed.