Mehdi Taj

Mehdi Taj is the president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), the body responsible for governing Iranian football and managing The National team. He has held senior roles in Iranian football administration for over two decades. Iranian and Canadian media reporting on the 29 April 2026 Toronto Pearson incident identifies Taj as a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); the IRGC was designated a terrorist organisation by Canada in 2024.

Taj has been the central figure in Iran's turbulent path to the 2026 World Cup. He met Gianni Infantino in Antalya in early April to affirm participation, was denied entry at Toronto Pearson Airport with a valid Canadian visa on 29 April ahead of the 76th FIFA Congress, and in late May secured FIFA approval to relocate Iran's base camp from Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico. The Tijuana move resolved the problem of preparing on US soil but created a new one: Iran's three group matches are in Los Angeles and Seattle, requiring the squad to cross the US border three times.

By 8 June 2026, Taj's second North American entry refusal had been confirmed — he has been barred twice since April. Iran's full 26-man squad landed in Tijuana at approximately 5am that morning after an overnight flight from Antalya; 14 federation staff remain denied US entry, among them FFIRI secretary-general Hedayat Mombeini and vice-president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi. Gianni Infantino has stated "there is no Plan B" and no replacement squad, committing FIFA to Iran's participation in this configuration. A qualified nation is therefore running its World Cup from a border city in Mexico while its federation president cannot enter North America.