FIFA may be headed for a California courtroom over a flag it doesn't want to see at the 2026 World Cup. A US-based nonprofit, the Institute for Voices of Liberty, has warned soccer's governing body that it will sue if FIFA follows through on plans to keep Iran's pre-1979 "Lion and Sun" flag out of North American stadiums, the Athletic reports. The group's lawyer says they've had no response from FIFA and are preparing legal action if the flag is barred. FIFA's stadium code bans "political" or "offensive" materials; it hasn't publicly said which rule the flag violates, but sources say the organization intends to block it.
The flag—still embraced by many in the Iranian diaspora as a symbol of opposition to the current regime—has already been an issue: some fans carrying it were turned away from games in Qatar in 2022. The group's letter argues that, on US soil, banning the Lion and Sun flag while allowing Iran's official flag would amount to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, particularly at publicly owned or financed venues in California. It demands written assurances that peaceful political expression won't be suppressed at the 2026 tournament, where Iran is scheduled to play two matches near Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Iranian-born Belgian lawmaker Darya Safai tells RFE that the regime's flag isn't the "real flag" of Iran. She says the ban won't stop fans from flying the Lion and Sun. "If you insist, if you sit on your seat and take it up, they cannot do anything," she says. "I have always said: This is my real flag, this is my seat, and I will sit here."
- The president of Iran's soccer federation tells the BBC that FIFA has granted the team permission to shift its training base from Arizona to Mexico. "We will be based in the Tijuana camp, which is near the Pacific Ocean and on the border between Mexico and the United States," Mehdi Taj says. "The distance for us in the two games that we have in LA will be a 55-minute flight, which is a lot less compared to Tucson."
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