The Iranian and Egyptian soccer federations have urged FIFA to strip any “Pride Match” displays and rainbow symbols from Friday’s World Cup match in Seattle.
The contest, slated for June 26 at Lumen Field, is scheduled during the city’s Pride weekend and has been referred to as the “Pride Match.”
While FIFA confirmed to the New York Times that rainbow flags remain permitted at all World Cup matches this summer, its president, Gianni Infantino, has previously distanced the governing body from the event’s promotional themes.
He insisted there would be no official “Pride Match” at the tournament in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Weltwoche, and added that any events taking place in Seattle “has nothing to do with the match itself.”
The Iranian federation warned that it “takes this matter seriously and has clearly communicated its position” to FIFA.
“We believe FIFA should take into account the views and concerns of the participating teams when considering matters related to the match environment and stadium presentation,” the Iranians said in a statement.
“FIFA has been informed of this shared position by both countries and is expected to take the necessary steps to ensure that no related ceremonies or promotional activities take place within the stadium or as part of the official match environment.”
Similarly, the Egyptian federation objected to “the holding of any activities related to supporting homosexuality.”
In a letter to the FIFA secretary general, the Egyptians clarified that “they completely refuse these activities, which directly contradicts with the cultural, religious and social values in the region, especially in the Arabic and Islamic communities.”
The statement from the Iranian Football Association notably did not directly reference “pride” or “LGBTQ” — instead referring to the event and the community as the “movement.”
SeattleFWC2026 maintains that the match at Lumen Field is an “inclusive event,” reaffirming that “rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026 Stadium Code of Conduct.”
Media coverage of the SeattleFWC2026’s affiliation with Pride weekend was first reported in December 2025 — and immediately condemned by Egypt and Iran’s soccer federations, which sought to prevent any connection to the Pride events.
Iran is one of six countries in the world that formally imposes the death penalty for same-sex relations, alongside Brunei, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Ali Larijani, the ex-Iranian secretary of the Supreme National Security Council — a regime hardliner who was killed in an Israeli airstrike soon after the start of the Iran war — insisted in an anti-LGBTQ+ tirade that the death penalty for homosexuality is “effective in keeping society safe from perversion.”
As a result, many gay men in Iran are heavily pressured by the state, clerics and even their own families to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
The regime’s repressive stance, originally codified under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — the founder of the Islamic Republic and original supreme leader — in the 1980s, is rooted in the belief that homosexuality is an illness.
Homosexuality is not explicitly outlawed in Egypt, but it is de facto criminalized.
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