With war across the Middle East continuing, it has left many questions around the involvement of the Iranian FA and National team given the fact that the tournament is being hosted in the United States. This comes as both Iranian and US officials have raised concerns about the safety of the team, should they participate.
In recent reports, Iran is expected to boycott the World Cup, not because of the effects of the conflict, but evidently the host nation. Over the last few days they have made significant efforts to continue their participation, negotiating for their games to be played in Mexico to avoid any interactions with America.
However, this seems highly unlikely as many FIFA officials have pointed out that it would disrupt the other teams in Group G: Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. Equally it would cause major repercussions with advertising, ticket sales and global broadcasting schedules.
With the likelihood of Iran participating dwindling as the conflict continues, FIFA has proposed a multi-faceted contingency plan to ensure that the ongoing-war does not disrupt the pinnacle of the sporting World.
The primary plan would be for the Iranian team to be replaced by either the winner of the inter-confederation play-off which is scheduled to be played later this month. Or the highest ranked Asia-Pacific team that did not qualify for the World Cup.
The secondary plan would be to simply have three teams in Group G. Instead of three matches there would be just two per team, with the two teams that placed first and second qualifying for the round of 32 alongside the best third place finishers in normal fashion.
If the primary condition was to be taken then either Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname would feature based of the play-off bracket. If it was the highest ranking Asia Pacific team it would equally be Iraq should they fail to qualify, yet if they do the honour would then fall to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Questions could equally be raised based around the UAE, should they still be an Iranian target.
Nothing has been confirmed but it seems increasingly likely that Iran will boycott the World Cup, leaving the opportunity for an unsuspecting team to travel to the States in the hopes of achieving worldwide footballing supremacy.
