Sporting officials in Egypt and Iran, two countries where homosexuality is severely punished, protested after being drawn to play the “Pride Match” in Seattle during next year’s World Cup.
Seattle’s plan to designate the June 26 game as a “Pride Match” — as it coincides with the city’s Pride weekend — was made before last week’s World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center, which sorted the 48 teams playing in the World Cup into 12 groups of four. Egypt and Iran were drawn Friday to be in Group G, and FIFA allocated the timings and locations of games Saturday.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian Football Association said it sent an official letter to FIFA categorically rejecting “holding any activities” that support homosexuality. The association said it asked FIFA to “maintain the spirit of unity and peace” by working to avoid activities that may “provoke cultural and religious sensitivities between fans present from both countries.”
The Egyptian Football Association added it “completely rejects such activities, which directly contradict the cultural, religious and social values in the region, especially in Arab and Islamic societies.” FIFA did not immediately return a request for comment early Wednesday.
During a discussion about the World Cup and the proposed game between the two nations, Mehdi Taj, the head of Iran’s football federation, told the country’s semiofficial news agency ISNA that both Tehran and Cairo had “protested this issue,” describing the match as an “irrational move that supports a certain group.”
Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, where in accordance with sharia law, homosexual relations can be punished by flogging and even death. While homosexuality is not explicitly criminalized in Egypt, officials have long targeted LGBTQ people in a “systematic fashion” through arrests, torture and other forms of abuse, Human Rights Watch said in 2020. In 2023, gay dating app Grindr warned its users that Egyptian police may be using fake accounts to entrap them.
SeattleFWC26, the organizing committee for the city’s participation in the World Cup, said its vision for the “Pride Match” was “to foster a lasting legacy for our region, guided by the spirit of soccer, innovation, and inclusion.”
“With matches on Juneteenth and pride, we get to show the world that in Seattle, everyone is welcome,” Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson wrote in a statement Saturday.
The 2026 World Cup will feature 104 matches, starting June 11 and ending July 19. Games will be held across 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The last World Cup took place in Qatar, where same-sex sexual activities are punishable with a prison sentence. FIFA pushed back on attempts by some teams to show support for LGBTQ fans and said players sporting the OneLove rainbow armbands would be penalized.
Victoria Bisset contributed to this report.
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