On a sun-drenched field in a quiet neighborhood of Los Angeles, Iranian American soccer players are having a heated debate about the game they’ve been waiting for years.
In just hours and only a short walk, Team Iran will enter the biggest stage in sports to play their first match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 against New Zealand.
Soccer is Iran’s most popular sport, but many in southern California are divided on where their loyalties should fall.
“I’ve lived in the United States or abroad for 47 years now, but still, my heart beats for Iran,” said Nader Adeli, manager of Arya FC, a predominantly Iranian team that has played soccer together for years in LA.
Adeli is among thousands of African Americans here who have protested against the Islamic regime in Tehran. But right now, he separates his feelings from politics and war in the game.
“Soccer, it’s football. It’s the time you want to be with your nation. It’s the time you want to see Iran succeed,” said Adeli.
The divisive conflict of geopolitics and sports plays out in a community with emotional ties to two countries at war, setting the stage for drama and protest that will extend beyond the field.
“You’ve never had two countries fighting each other, competing in the same tournament,” said Salma Mousa, a Canadian and assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who studies the intersection of sports and conflict.
On Sunday, the US and Iran said they had reached a peace deal to end the months-long war. The agreement is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland.
Anticipation in ‘Tehrangeles,’ the hub of Iranian LA
The question for many in LA is whether to attack or cheer for the Iranian men’s national team, which opponents view as an arm of the regime.
Many in the city believe the Iranian government is using the World Cup to purge tens of thousands of disaffected people since the Islamic Revolution, with thousands killed most recently during widespread protests in January.
In previous World Cups, including 2022 in Qatar, the Iranian diaspora supported their national team, he stopped and was silent and did not sing Iran’s national anthem during its opening game.
Iranian Americans are very conflicted at this time, many feel ashamed of their participation in the group. Others have sought that FIFA has withdrawn the country from the tournament.
“If a party does very well, we all know that the regime will use it to advance its propaganda,” said Reza Aslan, a professor and CNN host who left his family in Iran for California in 1979.
But he says he sympathizes with the players because he believes that any sign of resistance against them in this World Cup will not be tolerated by Tehran.
“This group has been clearly told that even the slightest protest will be brutally responded to by the regime. So what will be the result for the players if they decide to do that?”
Tensions have risen over where Iran’s first matches will be held.
Iran will play its first two World Cup matches at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., just miles from the western part of LA commonly known as Tehrangeles, home to dozens of Persian restaurants, markets and businesses.
Maryam Shojaei fought to overturn Iran’s sports ban on women. He spoke to CBC Radio’s The Sunday Magazine about Iran’s love affair with football and how it feels to be a fan right now.
At least 230,000 people of Iranian descent now live in and around Los Angeles, according to the Pew Research Centerwhich is considered to be the highest in the world outside of Iran.
“All the athletes, we support those guys. There is no conflict for me at all. Politics aside, I love my country and I love Iranian sports,” said Atabak Youssefzadh inside a busy Saffron and Rose Ice Cream shop.
Iran’s turbulent road to the World Cup
Team Melli (“national team” in Farsi), as it is known by Iranian soccer fans, has been facing problems since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
This team was the first to enter the World Cup, but in March the minister of sports in Iran he said the team could not play in the World Cup because of the American invasion.
Days later, the management changed their mind, pushing FIFA moving the team’s games from the US to Mexico was unsuccessful.
US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have expressed concern about the party’s staff ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designated as a terrorist group in the US and Canada.
The US Department of Homeland Security said it had issued visas to all Iranian players on June 9 – just 10 days before the tournament – but said they would only be able to enter the US. the day before their individual games.
Several members of Iran’s team were not granted visas, including “key members of management and administration,” according to Iran’s football federation.
Iranian striker Alireza Jahanbakhsh said the war and tensions made it difficult for the team to focus, but their safety in the US was not their biggest concern.
“I don’t think the team has that feeling in terms of security or a situation like that, but to be honest with you, we are ready for different situations that might happen,” he told ESPN.
FIFA bans the lion and sun symbols
The symbol of protest against repression in Iran is the lion and the sun, the symbol of the pre-revolutionary Iranian flag, and protesters plan to drench the Iranian team’s World Cup matches with it, if they can.
According to The AthleticFIFA plans to continue its ban on the flag and related merchandise from World Cup stadiums, saying the symbol violates its code of conduct.
The Iranian team said that it will stop playing if banned flags or sensitive slogans appear at matches, but many in California are willing to get their message out.
Social media in Farsi promotional buses are scheduled to transport people from nearby towns to the Sofi Stadium before Monday’s game, where a protest is planned outside.
Another post shows an attempt to raise thousands of dollars to buy tickets to the game so that people can protest on the side of the stadium.
“This group is not a group of Iranians because they were chosen by the IRGC,” said Ali Khorsand, who was standing outside the stadium Friday night, wearing a red hat that read “Make Iran Great Again.”
“The people of Iran, they don’t have a voice. So we are here to be their voice, to show the world that this regime is a terrorist regime, it is not a real regime,” said Khorsand.
The US and Iran can go head-to-head
Apart from politics and war, the Iranian team will compete in the seventh World Cup ranked 20th in the worldand looking to advance to the group stage for the first time.
That can lead to a very heated argument.
If the US and Iran finish second in their groups, they will play each other on July 3 in Arlington, Texas.
“That could escalate tensions to a catastrophic level,” worries UCLA’s Salma Mousa.
He hopes a head-to-head matchup won’t happen, and that the Americans will instead be inspired by Iran’s “grit, heart, and sportsmanship” in the tournament.
“I think people will see what the Iranian team is made of, and they will make their people whole,” he said.
