SOCCER: Iran begin Turkey camp as squad prepares for World Cup visa process

ANTALYA, Turkey - Iran’s national football team will travel from their training camp in Turkey to Ankara on Thursday for visa appointments ahead of the 2026 World Cup, a senior federation official said on Tuesday.

The Iranian squad is currently training in Antalya after the country’s domestic league was suspended earlier this year following U.S. and Israeli strikes, a disruption that has left many players short of competitive match fitness.

The team held a training session on Tuesday at a facility on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast as preparations for the tournament continue.

Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, first vice president of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI), said the full squad will attend appointments at the Canadian Embassy in Ankara, while some players will also submit applications for U.S. visas.

The 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Iran are scheduled to play all three of their group-stage matches in the United States, but would require access to Canada should they advance to the knockout rounds.

“FIFA regulations for the World Cup state that one of the obligations is to provide visas to all participating teams, and FIFA has said that the host countries will provide the necessary cooperation with Iran’s national team,” Nabi said.

“The day after tomorrow we will be in Ankara and the players will go to the Canadian Embassy for the preliminary stages of obtaining their visas.”

He added that players who had not previously applied for U.S. visas at the U.S. consulate in Dubai before the conflict would also submit applications in Ankara on Thursday.

Nabi also said several foreign-based Iranian players would join the squad in Ankara before returning with the team to the Antalya training camp.

Iran qualified early for the expanded 48-team tournament, but preparations have been affected by uncertainty over travel and security arrangements following the conflict.

“NOT FULLY SATISFIED”

Head coach Amir Ghalenoei said it would be difficult to fully prepare the squad physically after most domestic-based players went seven weeks without competitive football during the league suspension.

“Naturally, I am not fully satisfied with the players’ level of readiness,” Ghalenoei told the FFIRI magazine before the team’s departure for Turkey.

“But with a training camp of approximately two and a half to three weeks, we can recover about 20 to 25% of this shortfall.”

Iran are scheduled to play Gambia in a friendly on May 29 before Ghalenoei names his final 26-man World Cup squad ahead of FIFA’s June 1 deadline.

The FFIRI is also seeking to arrange another friendly in Turkey and is planning a behind-closed-doors match against Puerto Rico at their U.S. base in Arizona, provided entry clearance issues are resolved.

Nabi said the federation was confident that security arrangements for the tournament would be properly managed.

“There are security committees working with FIFA inside the United States, and responsibility for security lies with those committees,” he said. -Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Ece Toksabay and Daren Butler; Editing by Peter Rutherford, Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar/Reuters