Iran's World Cup football team leaves for Turkey: media
Iran's national football team has departed for Turkey to play a final friendly match and apply for visas for the 2026 World Cup. Despite ongoing tensions and a recent war involving the United States, the team plans to participate in the tournament. The head coach confirmed that they will also be completing visa applications while in Turkey.
- ▪Iran's national football team is heading to Turkey for a friendly match and to apply for US visas.
- ▪The team consists of 22 domestic-based players and their coaching staff.
- ▪The United States has launched attacks on Iran, but officials have stated that Iran is welcome at the World Cup.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/irans-world-cup-football-team-084635562.html","headline":"Iran's World Cup football team leaves for Turkey: media","datePublished":"2026-05-18T08:46:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-18T08:46:35.000Z","keywords":["Iran","national football team","World Cup","Turkey","President Donald Trump","Iranian media","Antalya, Turkey","United States","Revolutionary Guards","friendly match","Canada","Mexico","Egypt","Belgium","New Zealand"],"description":"Iran's national football team was headed to Turkey on Monday to play a final friendly match and apply for visas to fly to the United States for the 2026...","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Yahoo…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Yahoo Sports.