The Iranian national team celebrates qualifying for the 2026 World Cup after drawing Uzbekistan. Photo Credit: Getty Images.
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Claim: An X user claims Iran has withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup, and Nigeria will replace them.
Verdict: False. Iran remains drawn with Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand in the group stage of the 2026 World Cup, with no official announcement from FIFA that the Islamic Republic has boycotted the tournament.
Full Text
Following a United States-Israeli coordinated strike on Iran, which claimed the life of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an X user, @Dehkunle (archived here), claims that Iran has withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup and will be replaced by Nigeria.
“Iran has pulled out of the World Cup; Nigeria will now replace them,” the X user wrote.
A similar claim was made on X (here) and Facebook (here, here, and here)
As of Monday, Mar. 2, 2026, the X post has 140,500 views, 42 comments, 101 retweets, 1,900 likes, and 26 bookmarks.
Some X users said the post is not credible, while others asked whether the X user had verified the news source.
“This sounds wild. As of now, Iran is still officially in the tournament,” ManagerT4 commented.
“Is this information legit?” KingMies39 queried X’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.
Similarly, @msmocrown asked. “Is this a verified information?”
Due to the sensitivity of the claim and the need to prevent disinformation, DUBAWA decided to verify the post.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a keyword search on terms related to the claim. We found no reputable news outlet has reported the alleged boycott or withdrawal of Iran from the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Relevant searches indicate the Iranian football team is reportedly “considering” a withdrawal from the tournament over concerns about the safety of travelling to the US following the US-Israeli military confrontation on Iran’s territory.
The Guardian reports that the president of Iran’s football federation, Mehdi Taj, reacting to the US attack, said, “We cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope.” However, there has been no official announcement from the Iranian Football Federation that its national team has withdrawn from the global football tournament.
Meanwhile, on the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)’s website, the Middle Eastern country remains drawn with Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand in the group stage of the 2026 World Cup.
DUBAWA further checked the countries that have qualified and are eligible to participate in the tournament and discovered that Nigeria is not among them. Back in November 2025, Nigeria crashed out of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers after losing 4-3 on penalties to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although the Nigeria Football Federation petitioned FIFA in December, demanding that FIFA disqualify DR Congo. FIFA claims Congo fielded ineligible players, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Axel Tuanzebe, who are England youth internationals, and Congolese law does not allow dual citizenship. However, FIFA has stated that the matter is under review.
Conclusion
There is no report or official announcement that Iran has withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup. Therefore, the claim is false.
