An unlikely pair of countries, Iran and Egypt, are competing Friday night in what’s been billed as the 2026 World Cup “Pride Match” in Seattle. Neither nation’s government recognizes LGBTQ+ rights.
And FIFA, the World Cup’s governing body, is denying there’s a “Pride Match” at all.
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“First of all, I must clarify that there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the World Cup,” FIFA President Gino Infantino said in a statement about Friday night’s game, reported by the Guardian. “There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city. But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”
At pre-match press conferences, coaches for both teams took pains to avoid the subject altogether, after the countries earlier lodged complaints to have the events associating Seattle Pride with the match cancelled.
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Homosexuality is a crime in both nations; in Iran, it’s punishable by death.
Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, said he wouldn’t 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,” he told the assembled press.
Egypt’s head coach, Hossam Hassan, took the same line.
“We are all focused on football. It is all we think about. And FIFA is, of course, taking care of the organizational 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.”
Those guidelines include a change from the governing body’s policy on expressions of Pride at the last World Cup tournament in Qatar in 2022, where any symbols associated with the LGBTQ+ community were forcibly removed from stadiums by government enforcers.
A FIFA spokesperson described the rules adopted for stadiums at this year’s North American tournament.
“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.”
While some participating countries don’t enjoy the same freedoms of expression as the host countries for the 2026 World Cup, it’s important to take their associations into consideration, said Gurchaten Sandhu, Director of Programs at ILGA World, the global LGBTQ+ rights organization.
“A Pride Match can be an important message of solidarity across communities, and Pride should be visible: LGBTI people belong in football, stadiums, fan zones, and every host city,” he said.
“But solidarity and visibility must come with responsibility, accountability, and a harm-reduction approach, especially towards communities in all countries with hostile legislation. If this match is going to carry the language of Pride, FIFA and the local organizers must be able to answer: who was consulted, who is protected, and who bears the risk after the cameras leave?”
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