{"id":54817,"date":"2026-05-06T17:35:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=54817"},"modified":"2026-05-06T17:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:36:17","slug":"team-melli-social-media-account-shows-world-cup-preparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2026\/05\/06\/team-melli-social-media-account-shows-world-cup-preparations\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Melli social media account shows World Cup preparations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Al Jazeera – TEHRAN, Iran\u2019s preparations for the FIFA World Cup appear to be underway, as social media posts from the team\u2019s official Instagram account<\/a> hint at a possible kit reveal and show the squad training at an undisclosed location.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iran are in Group G of the World Cup and will play all their games in the United States, which is cohosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n

Several members of Iran\u2019s squad, including first-choice goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand and winger Milad Mohammadi, were shown wearing a new kit in a series of social media posts.<\/p>\n

The Team Melli account also posted photos from training sessions, which have been held in Iran before the squad travels to Turkiye for three friendly matches before the World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Asian giants\u2019 participation in the tournament became uncertain after the US and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28, with Iranian officials questioning the US\u2019s role as host and President Donald Trump suggesting Team Melli\u2019s players may not be safe if they travel to his country for the championship.<\/p>\n

However, recent statements by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Iranian football officials have reaffirmed the country\u2019s participation in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Infantino confirmed that Iran will play its games in the US in his opening remarks at the FIFA \u2060\u2060Congress in Canada on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me start at the outset. Of course, Iran will be participating at the FIFA \u2060\u2060World Cup 2026. And of course Iran will play in the United States of America,\u201d Infantino said.<\/p>\n

Trump later said he was \u201cOK\u201d with Iran playing in the country. \u201cIf Gianni said it, I\u2019m OK,\u201d Trump told reporters \u200c\u200cat the White House. \u201cYou know what? Let \u200c\u200cthem \u200c\u200cplay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football officials in Iran have outlined the team\u2019s training and preparations for the tournament, which include camps at home and in neighbouring Turkiye before travelling to the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first phase of the preparation period will end with an intra-team game on Wednesday,\u201d assistant coach Saeed Alhoei told Iranian sport news outlet Varzesh3.<\/p>\n

The game will be held at a stadium, and the players will wear official match kits, with an international referee and video assistant referee technology (VAR) to simulate tournament-like conditions.<\/p>\n

Alhoei said the squad will depart for Turkiye on Monday for their final leg of preparations before travelling to the US in June.<\/p>\n

Team Melli will kick off their \u200c\u200ccampaign \u200c\u200cagainst New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15 before taking on Belgium at the same stadium on June 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have three friendly matches, two of which will probably be against [local] club teams and behind closed doors, and the third against an African team,\u201d Alhoei said. \u201cIt is a quality team that can be a good simulation for playing against African teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran will face Egypt in their final group match in Seattle on June 26.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Iran suffered a significant \u2060\u2060blow after it was confirmed that winger Ali Gholizadeh had suffered a season-ending knee injury while playing for his club Lech Poznan in Poland.<\/p>\n

Gholizadeh, who would have started on the right \u2060\u2060wing at the World Cup, was stretchered off the pitch against Motor Lublin last Saturday, and tests later confirmed he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.<\/p>\n

\u201cGholizadeh will face surgery \u2060\u2060in the coming days, followed by several months of rehabilitation,\u201d the club said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Iran National Football Team Official Instagram Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Al Jazeera – TEHRAN, Iran\u2019s preparations for the FIFA World Cup appear to be underway,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":54818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,86,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c47-featured-news","category-c13-team-melli-news","category-world-cup"],"views":89,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54820,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54817\/revisions\/54820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}