In brief
- Tucson is preparing to host Iran’s national football team for the FIFA World Cup despite the war in the Middle East.
- FIFA says Iran will participate as planned, though visa concerns and security uncertainties remain.
While tensions simmer in the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. warships challenging Iran’s oil tankers and President Donald Trump insisting on “complete victory,” a different scene is unfolding in Tucson, Arizona. Here, preparations are in full swing to warmly welcome Iran’s national football team, known as “Team Melli,” as they gear up for the FIFA World Cup hosted by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada next month.
Tucson, a cultural hub nestled in the vast Arizona desert, is set to serve as the training base for the Iranian squad. “We’re thrilled to have them here and are committed to providing a positive experience,” expressed Sarah Hanna, the director of the Kino Sports Complex, where the team will practice.
Efforts are underway to groom the facility to meet FIFA standards, with grass being meticulously maintained to ensure it meets regulation height. This attention to detail aims to prevent any surprises for the team when they compete in Los Angeles and Seattle against New Zealand, Belgium, and Egypt during the group-stage matches.
Accommodations and meeting venues have been secured, and rigorous security measures are in place to ensure the team’s safety and comfort.
“Currently, I’m involved in around 12 to 20 meetings each week to coordinate the preparations for this training facility,” Hanna noted, highlighting the extensive planning required for hosting such a prestigious team.
“Right now, I’m probably averaging about 12 to 20 meetings regarding this training facility a week,” said Hanna.
“From our concessionaire for food and beverage … to lots of grounds meetings with FIFA coming out to check.”
The flurry of activity in Tucson comes against the backdrop of a war between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other that is now in its 11th week.
Despite a shaky ceasefire in place for a month, hostilities are stubbornly unresolved, with Iran having virtually shut the Strait of Hormuz.
In March, Iran said it was unlikely the team would play in the World Cup unless its matches were moved from the US to Mexico.
Also in March, Trump cast doubt on their presence, saying that while the team was “welcome” to participate, it might not be a good idea.
“I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” he wrote on social media.
But FIFA organisers have insisted the team will take part in the tournament as planned, so Tucson has pressed ahead with its preparations.
“As far as we’re concerned, it’s 100 per cent on, and it’s never been off,” Hanna said.
“Since they’ve been identified as the team, we’ve been moving forward as them as our team, until we hear something different from FIFA.”
Despite the official position, there’s plenty of uncertainty.
On Friday, Iran’s football federation president announced the team would participate, but laid down a list of requirements, including around the granting of visas and the treatment of staff.
Concerns are particularly acute for anyone with ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the organisation seemingly in control of the country now, but which the US views as a terrorist group.
Locals in Tucson dismiss Trump’s March implied threat about the team’s “life and safety”.
“Our president is known to be a bit bombastic in his use of social media,” Jon Pearlman, president of local professional side FC Tucson, said.
“I don’t think president Trump or any part of our government will make it their business to make them feel unwelcome or unsafe. I think it will do the opposite.”
‘With open arms’
At the Kino Sports Complex, Iranian players will have access to the club’s weight training facilities, ice baths, and massage tables.
“We welcome them with open arms,” Pearlman said.
“We are part of the world soccer community. We are part of what FIFA is trying to do, and we believe the game is something that brings nations together, not drives them apart.”
It is a sentiment widely echoed throughout this multicultural city of 540,000, which leans Democratic.
“I hope that they still feel welcome here,” Rob McLane, who plays indoor soccer, said.
“Even though we’re doing what we’re doing, which is ridiculous,” he said of the military operation.
Even near the local military base — whose aircraft regularly fly over the fields where the team will practice — Republican voters drew a clear distinction between sport and geopolitics.
“I’m glad that they’re coming,” veteran Michael Holley, who thinks the war was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb, said.
Trump only brought up player safety because he feared “that Iranian athletes would be punished by their own government if they had a voice of their own,” the 68-year-old said.
“He didn’t mean that the American people are a threat.”
But not everyone in Tucson is thrilled about the prospect of the Iranian team being in town.
For some in the city’s small Persian community, the players are little more than emissaries from a regime that launched a bloody crackdown on popular protests in January, killing thousands of people.
Ali Rezaei, a 68-year-old IT worker, said it would be “impossible” to support them.
“If there is a demonstration against them, I may go there.”
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