A WIN against the United Arab Emirates and a draw with Uzbekistan were enough to see Iran become one of the first non-host nations to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Their qualification and likely visit to the United States raised familiar problems around the nation that will host the 2026 tournament along with Canada and Mexico.

A New York Times report earlier this month revealed that the Trump administration is proposing a new travel ban on 43 countries. The list is separated into three groups, with countries in one of those groups subjected to a full visa suspension, ie a complete ban. Iran is one of the nations in that group, along with other potential World Cup qualifiers, Sudan and Venezuela.

Aside from this, Iran remains on the US government’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list along with Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Syria.

This will already make for a complicated visa application process for Iranian fans, media, players, and staff and could potentially make it impossible for many of them to enter the US.

Other potential World Cup qualifiers on Donald Trump’s new list for proposed visa restrictions include Burkina Faso, Haiti, Benin, Cape Verde, Liberia, DR Congo and Cameroon. At least one more nation on this list of 43 will likely qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

A report by the Guardian US last week revealed that only one non-host spot at the World Cup will play all of its group games outside the United States. They could engineer the draw so Iran gets this spot, but that would also damage the integrity of the competition, and, again, it is unlikely Iran will be the only country facing such issues.

Iran’s qualification further raises the question of whether the United States is fit to welcome visitors from across the world and whether it is a suitable host for such global festivals of sport.

The sporting world will be heavily focused on the country in the coming years, as it will host the Summer Olympics in 2028 as well as the 2026 World Cup — two of the biggest events in the global sporting calendar.

Though the relevant governing bodies have deemed the US fit to hold these events, the reality on the ground looks very different. 

The Olympics, with its much larger representation of nations, is likely to hit even more snags than the World Cup.

These problems are not new and not limited to the Trump administration, even though the issues have been ramped up since he took office for a second time.

The United States has always been a troublesome destination when it comes to sports.

Numerous previous editions of this column have covered this in the context of association football, as players and staff from national and club teams in Central America and the Caribbean have regularly faced obstacles when playing games in continental competitions in the United States.

The inability to obtain visas has led to many instances where games in the Concacaf Champions League (now known as the Champions Cup) have been forfeited, or teams have travelled to play the US leg of their ties with depleted teams. In some instances, teams have had to withdraw from competitions altogether.

In 2022, the Haitian side, Cavaly AS, had to forfeit their game against New England Revolution, having been unable to obtain visas to travel to the US and withdrew from the Champions League as a result.

In 2023, another Haitian side, Violette AC, were almost denied their chance at what turned out to be a historic upset against MLS side Austin FC. In the end, Violette managed to get enough players into the US to play the game but could only name three subs.

In 2021, Cuba had to withdraw from the region’s Euros and Copa America equivalent, the Gold Cup, due to visa issues.

“The Cuban national team was not able to travel to Florida to participate in the Concacaf Gold Cup because the government of the United States did not grant the corresponding visas,” a statement from the Cuban FA read at the time.

“Once again, issues unrelated to sports prevent our country from competing on US soil on equal terms with our rivals, violating the precepts of fair play and the legitimate rights of any sports delegation.”

It has even affected qualifying for the upcoming tournament and, as a result, its integrity. The Cayman Islands had just won a World Cup qualifying game for the first time in their history and were due to travel to Cuba for their subsequent match. However, many Cayman Islands players are regularly based in the US for study and were worried they would lose their student visas on the back of having been to Cuba. They forfeited the game and suffered an automatic 3-0 defeat.

These are just a few examples of many. The warnings ahead of this World Cup, now being sounded more loudly, have been there for some time.

In the past, these incidents where teams cannot enter the US have been framed in limited media coverage as a problem with the team in question being unable to get its admin in order, but the real problem lies at the US border.

It’s a problem that has only intensified since the latest Trump administration moved into the White House, and with the very real and now closer threat of these issues disrupting the World Cup, media coverage of these issues has been ramped up.

This might be why Fifa president Gianni Infantino has spent much more time cosying up to Trump than his Canadian or Mexican equivalents, as he realises the restrictions Trump is placing at the US border could massively disrupt his lucrative global tournament.

Ultimately, sports tournaments are merely an aside from the very real issues affecting citizens both within the United States and travelling to it at this time, but as it attracts so much global interest, the sport and reporting on it can serve to highlight these issues further.

The upcoming Fifa Club World Cup, which will be played in the United States this summer, might offer a preview of some of the problems that will arise ahead of the 2026 World Cup, but few will highlight them as obviously as Iran’s recent qualification.

The United States is looking like an increasingly bad choice as a host for the 2026 World Cup, but as was the case ahead of Qatar in 2022 and as far ahead as Saudi Arabia in 2034, the issues faced are predictable and reflect wider problems outside of sport.