Trump Admin Rejects Iran's Claims About FIFA World Cup Tickets: ‘Integrity'
The Trump administration rejected Iran’s accusation that the United States engineered the loss of World Cup ticket allocations for its fans, saying it does not control ticket sales and warning that it will not let the Iranian team exploit the tournament to slip extremists into the country.
The pushback came a day after Iran’s football federation claimed its allotment of supporter tickets for three group-stage matches on U.S. soil had been pulled less than a week before kickoff.
“Despite claims by Iran’s football federation, the United States does not allocate tickets for World Cup matches,” an administration official told Newsweek on background. “Ticket distribution is managed by FIFA and the event organizers, not by the U.S. government.”
The official said any limits on Iranian fans stem from existing law rather than a new or targeted measure.
“The current U.S. travel restrictions on Iranian nationals have been consistently applied and remain unchanged,” the official said. “The United States has worked closely with relevant authorities and international partners to ensure Iranian players and essential team personnel could participate in the World Cup.”
Iran World Cup Tickets: What FIFA and the State Department Say
Iran’s football federation said Tuesday that FIFA had revoked the ticket allocation for its fans at the team’s three World Cup games in the United States. Under FIFA rules, each of the 48 federations is entitled to 8 percent of stadium capacity per game to sell to its own supporters, adding up to several thousand tickets.
The federation said it had already begun selling those tickets before the allocation was withdrawn. It was unclear Tuesday how many tickets in Iran's allocation were sold, if they live in their home country or are part of its diaspora including about 1 million people in the U.S.
“Depriving Iranian supporters of access to their lawful and official allocation of tickets is an action contrary to the spirit governing international competitions and the principle of equality among participating countries,” the FFIRI said in a statement.
A State Department spokesperson, also speaking to Newsweek on background, was sharper and addressed the visa question directly.
“The visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued,” the spokesperson said. “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”
FIFA, which holds sole authority over ticketing, did not endorse Iran’s account. In a statement Tuesday, the organization said it was working closely with the Iranian federation to identify compliant solutions that would maximize opportunities for Iranian supporters to attend matches.
Most of Iran’s 26-man squad has not had a competitive game since February because they play for clubs in the domestic league that was shut down by the war. U.S. authorities awarded visas to all of Iran’s players about 10 days before the opener, though several members of the team’s staff did not receive them.
World Cup Visa Denials Hit Players, Referees
U.S. policy toward World Cup visitors is becoming a strong theme before the games begin on Thursday.
A FIFA-appointed match referee from Somalia was denied entry to the U.S. in Miami over the weekend, and on Monday he was cut from the 104-game tournament that starts in Mexico City.
An Iraq player was detained for several hours on arriving in Chicago and a photographer traveling with the delegation was denied entry.
"The disruption is such that one has to ask who is running the World Cup. Is it FIFA or is it the U.S. government with its racially charged immigration policies?" Piara Powar, the head of FIFA’s anti-discrimination monitoring partner, said on Tuesday in a statement.
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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 11:45 AM.