The World Cup and War
The Athletic FC Podcast
The Athletic
4.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 May 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This summer's World Cup in North America is the biggest in size and scale and now, arguably, the most controversial. The tournament kicks off in less than 40 days. Co-hosts USA remain at war with Iran, with fellow Middle East participants and historic allies drawn into the conflict - and FIFA caught in the middle. Travel bans, political protests and fears over ICE guarantee a turbulent countdown.
This special episode of The Athletic FC hears from players, coaches, fans, regional experts and human rights advocates on the geopolitical backdrop to World Cup 2026.
Presenter: Adam Leventhal
Producer: Paul Iliffe
Audio from: AP, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, FIFA, England Records, beIN, C-SPAN
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic FC |
| 0:03.3 | Header away by Ashmuradov. |
| 0:08.2 | March the 25th, 2025. |
| 0:10.8 | Fet back in by Norafkan, the substitute. |
| 0:13.0 | The Azadi Stadium in Tehran, |
| 0:15.1 | and Iran are trailing 2-1 at home against Uzbekistan |
| 0:18.6 | in a vital World Cup qualifier. |
| 0:21.1 | Golizetta's ball in. Plenty in there and wide, oh! It's touched in by Tereymi! |
| 0:26.6 | There was seven minutes to go. That could well be the goal that confirms Iran's place at the |
| 0:33.8 | 2026 World Cup finals. Within three months, it became clear that Iran taking part in a tournament co-hosted by the US, |
| 0:42.6 | which even in normal times would be contentious due to long-term tensions, |
| 0:47.8 | would be even more complicated. |
| 0:49.8 | A short time ago, the US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key |
| 0:56.2 | nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime, Fordot, Natanz, and Esfahan. |
| 1:04.2 | That was June 2025, during the 12-day war in which the U.S US supported Israel in attacks against Iran, including |
| 1:13.1 | bombing nuclear facilities. Those attacks prevented Mediterranean, who'd scored that all-important |
| 1:19.7 | World Cup qualifying goal against Uzbekistan, from being able to make it to the US to play for |
| 1:25.5 | his then club into Milan at the Club World Cup. |
| 1:31.0 | Inside Iran, at the turn of the year, the Islamic Republic regime cracked down on nationwide |
| 1:36.3 | anti-government protests. Iran's leadership acknowledged 3,000 people were killed. Human rights |
| 1:43.6 | groups estimate figures in the tens of thousands. |
| 1:47.3 | Footballers and other sportspeople are known to have been amongst those who lost their lives. |
... |
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