2026 World Cup ‘Pride Match’ To Feature Egypt Vs Iran

The FIFA World Cup match scheduled in Seattle for June 26 had already been designated as a ‘Pride match‘ before the fixtures were announced at that god-awful ceremony on Friday.

Now we know the two teams that will play in it… Egypt and Iran; two countries with perhaps the most draconian anti-gay laws on the planet.

Seattle’s local organising committee for the 2026 World Cup had been preparing to stage the first-ever ‘Pride Match’ at Lumen Field on June 26, the Friday of Pride Weekend.

Friday’s tournament draw allocated the slot in the city’s schedule to one of two Group G games — New Zealand v Belgium, or Egypt v Iran.

When the full schedule was confirmed the next day, Vancouver was selected for the New Zealand v Belgium game, leaving Seattle to host Egypt v Iran for its historic ‘Pride Match’. Awkward!

Same-sex relationships are criminalised in both Egypt and Iran, with capital punishment the maximum penalty in the latter country. Meanwhile, Seattle is one of the ‘queer’ capitals of America. Egypt Vs Iran in Seattle during Pride Month? There literally could not be a more incompatible combination.

This obviously poses a bit of a pickle for the organisers, fans and teams themselves. Will the Egyptian and Iranian players be cool with participating under the ‘Pride’ banner, where there will presumably be all kinds of LGBT flags and representation in the build-up and during the game itself?

How will Mo Salah, Mehdi Taremi and co feel about that? Will FIFA also ask the players to wear LGBT armbands on the pitch?

How about the Iranian and Egyptian fans watching from back home in their own countries? They’re going to have to blur out the whole crowd!

Personally I think this is quite funny and cannot wait to see how it all plays out. Perhaps it’s just time to respect the local culture the way we were all told to do in Qatar at the last World Cup. Quite incredible that it’s basically the same thing happening in reverse.

Who knows? It could even turn out to be a good thing. I mean, it’s surprising enough that the US is allowing Iranians into the country to compete in the World Cup in the first place. Could this be some kind of troll job on behalf of Trump himself? Wouldn’t put it past him.

For the Israeli footballers who complained that the Italy players ‘cursed at us the whole game’ during World Cup qualifiers, click HERE.