The most politically charged World Cup ever puts the U.S. and Iran on a collision course while America co-hosts with neighbors it has tariffed

The World Cup has never been free of politics, yet this year’s event may be in a league of its own.

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The quadrennial global soccer tournament will be co-hosted for the first time this year by three nations: the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. It will also be the biggest version of the tournament ever, with FIFA, the global soccer governing body, utilizing an expanded 48-country format that adds 16 more teams.

But Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff, a historian and professor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport, said what may stand out the most this year is the World Cup’s geopolitical context, which she said has no clear modern precedent.

“We’re in pretty unique territory,” she told Fortune.

Part of the tension comes from the relations between the three host nations. Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, he has levied tariffs on both the U.S. and Canada as part of his broader trade war.

In addition, his rhetoric toward both countries has turned increasingly hostile and menacing.

While he claims to get along with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, he has tried to convince her to allow U.S. troops to enter Mexico to fight drug cartels, a suggestion Sheinbaum rejected as an affront to the country’s sovereignty.

“The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight,” Trump said last July.

The president has also attacked America’s northern neighbor, calling for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state and labeling Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney a “future governor.”

It is not the first time that co-hosts have dealt with complicated relations. Japan and South Korea, two countries with plenty of baggage due to Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula in the early 20th century, jointly organized the 2002 World Cup. The tournament was largely seen as a success, Krasnoff said, and laid the groundwork for future tournaments to be hosted by more than one nation.

But Krasnoff noted that while the tension between South Korea and Japan is historical, the conflict between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico is active and ongoing. The fact that the three countries plan to review their trilateral trade agreement, the USMCA, in July during the tournament adds extra weight.

U.S. President Donald Trump, Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, and Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, pose for a selfie with Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.Hector Vivas—FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Iran war

The Iran war, which followed U.S. strikes on nuclear sites in Iran last June, has added another point of contention. It is the first time that a World Cup host nation has been actively at war with a participating nation. And while they are currently in a ceasefire, to say the dynamic is uncomfortable is an understatement.

“When the World Cup draw happened in December, I don’t think anyone really had on their bingo card that one of the co-hosts would be at war with a participating nation — and the first team to actually qualify,” said Krasnoff.

Iran was the first nation to qualify for this year’s World Cup, which will take place over 39 days starting in June, but the country’s participation has been uncertain—even before the U.S. and Israel attacked the country in late February.

In December, the country boycotted the World Cup draw in Washington after the U.S. denied visas to several members of its delegation, including its national team coach.

After the war started and the U.S. assassinated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Iran’s sports minister said on state television in early March that the country could not attend the tournament.

“Given that this corrupt government assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” he said, according to ESPN.

Trump later shot back in a Truth Social post that the Iranian team is welcome, “but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”

Iran requested its group stage games, all of which are to be played in the U.S., be moved to Mexico. FIFA rejected the request this week, with FIFA President Infantino insisting in an interview that Iran is “coming for sure” to the U.S.

“But Iran has to come, of course. They represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play,” he told CNBC on Tuesday.

Even if FIFA had agreed to move Iran’s games out of the U.S.—perhaps by switching its group stage games with South Korea which plays all its group stage games in Mexico—it would still have had to play in the U.S. if it advanced to the elimination round.

The line ups of USA (in White) and Iran (in red) during the national anthem before the World Cup 1st round match between USA (1) and Iran (2) at the Stade de Garland on June 21, 1998 in Lyon, France. Simon Bruty