Football World Cup 2026
Game between Iran and Egypt should be a pride game
A Pride weekend for the LGBTQ+ community will take place in Seattle in June 2026. A World Cup game should also be included – the one between Iran and Egypt.
The US city of Seattle has proudly celebrated a Pride weekend for over 50 years, during which gays and lesbians stand up for their rights. On June 26, 2026 it will happen again. Because a World Cup preliminary round game is taking place on this day, the local organizing committee wants to include the game, which draws a lot of attention to the city in the northwest of the USA, into the celebrations. It’s supposed to be the “Pride Game” of the World Cup.
The decision was made before the World Cup group draw and the allocation of venues, which took place in Washington last weekend. As luck would have it, Iran and Egypt are scheduled to play their preliminary round duel in Group G there on June 26th. Two Muslim countries that are extremely homophobic. In Iran, gays and lesbians can be sentenced to death; in Egypt, same-sex love is socially suppressed.
LGBTQ+ community wants to see the plans through
It is remarkable that the meeting of these national teams should be part of the Pride party. “Football has the unique power to unite people across borders, cultures and faiths. We are honored to host a Pride game and celebrate Pride as part of a global football community,” said one of the organizers, according to media reports. Despite the clash of different cultures, the action should take place as planned. Says the LGBTQ+ community.
At the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, there were plenty of conflicts around the topic. World football governing body Fifa urged that there should be no open protests or signs against the Arab country’s restrictive laws. Players who tried to wear rainbow symbols were threatened with a yellow card. Criticism from numerous Western countries, especially Germany, was rejected.
Is Seattle at risk of being withdrawn as a venue by FIFA? Not excluded
It will be interesting to see how FIFA and the football associations of Egypt and Iran will react. There are no comments so far. It cannot be ruled out that the game will be postponed. US President Donald Trump had announced in advance that he would withdraw venues from cities in the event of problems. Now Trump is not known as a friend of Iran, but he is even less a friend of the LGBTQ+ communities. The parties in Seattle are always colorful protests against Trump.
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