The president of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) Mehdi Taj, has spoken out against a planned ‘Pride Match’ at the 2026 World Cup between Iran and Egypt.

The match in the Americas was pre-arranged for a clash in Seattle that takes part around the city’s Pride Weekend.

However, FIFA didn’t factor in scheduling, with Iran and Egypt ending up booking the spot, despite homosexuality being punishable by death in Iran.

Yet FIFA have so far shown no signs of relenting, with many claiming that any change would be highly hypocritical, given the insistence on ‘respecting local culture’ that was used to quell the use of rainbow armbands in Qatar.

Iran think they will win out, though, with Taj telling the Ham-Mihan newspaper: “We don’t want our third World Cup match to be played under the rainbow flag.

“We will prevent it. We are determined and we will succeed. This is an irrational decision that favours a certain group.”