Eighteen months of preparation hang in the balance at a Tucson-based multi-use sports facility, where organisers say they remain in daily contact with International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) about hosting Iran’s national soccer team, even as geopolitical turmoil threatens to upend their World Cup plans.
Iran is scheduled to play their World Cup group stage matches on United States (US) soil, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle, with Tucson’s sprawling Kino Sports Complex selected as the team’s base camp training site for the June 11 and July 19 tournament.
But those plans were thrown into doubt when the US, Israeli campaign against Iran began last weekend with strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The campaign entered its sixth day on Thursday.
“We do know there’s a lot of geopolitical activities going on right now,” Sarah Horvath, Director of the Kino Sports Complex, told Reuters. “That being said, we are in communication daily with FIFA. Team Iran is still coming here as of right now, we look forward to hosting them.”
Iran qualified for their fourth consecutive World Cup and were drawn into Group G alongside Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand.
Teams were able to choose from a curated list provided by FIFA which cities they wanted to use as training camps and it was announced last month that Iran, who are 20th in the world rankings, selected the Kino Sports Complex.
for a backup plan.
–Reuters–
