Iran and Egypt attempted to sidestep questions about their reluctance to take part in the designated “Pride Match” celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in Seattle, as Fifa confirmed it will permit rainbow flags to be displayed inside the stadium. Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, has been at pains to make clear planned festivities are being arranged by Seattle’s organising committee to coincide with the annual Pride weekend and that they have “nothing to do with the match itself”.
Both Iran and Egypt lodged complaints to Fifa about the LGBTQ+ events staged around the game and requested for them to be cancelled. In Iran, LGBTQ+ relationships are illegal, and Egypt has a history of prosecuting queer and trans people. Iran’s pre-match press conference began with a statement from their federation requesting all questions were in relation to the team, tactics and the match. Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, said he did not wish to speak about “anything that is banned in our league”.
“All our thoughts are focused on football, the beautiful game, our people, our success,” Ghalenoei said. “We are going to be positive, we are not going to think about any other issues. We seek to bring joy to our people. When the game starts, all of our focus is going to be on the pitch, we’re not going to be thinking about what’s going to be going on off the pitch. The game is going to be exciting, arduous and our focus has to be on football and nothing else … We are only going to speak about football.”
The Egypt head coach, Hossam Hassan, echoed the sentiment by saying: “We are all focused on football, it is all we think about and Fifa is of course taking care of the organisational side. We are concerned with football on the pitch. We respect the rules of respect and fair play that are there for everyone to abide by and any guidelines set by Fifa.”
Iran previously complained about feeling like the “most oppressed” team at the tournament but, unlike their previous two Group G matches, they arrived in Seattle two days before the match. Ghalenoei said the team have been “deprived” of their rights by being told when they can arrive and depart a host city and he suggested Infantino was blind-sided by the restrictions imposed on the team by the US administration.
“Mr Infantino and Fifa did do their utmost to listen to the problems but we weren’t encouraged,” Ghalenoei said. “They didn’t give us any bonuses or anything. I know for the past six months Mr Infantino has tried really hard to minimise the challenges we were facing and what happened was not something that Mr Infantino expected.”
In a statement Infantino distanced Fifa from the Pride celebrations. “First of all, I must clarify that there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the World Cup,” Infantino said. “There will be a Fifa World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organised by external organisations will be taking place in the city. But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”
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A Fifa spokesperson added: “General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the Fifa World Cup 2026 stadium code of conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”
