2026 World Cup assigns Pride Match to Iran and Egypt despite severe LGBTQ+ rights abuses

Seattle’s Pride Match Advisory Committee has insisted the event will proceed as intended, emphasising the city’s commitment to inclusivity, visibility, and solidarity during the tournament.

News. Written by Sarah Creighton Keogh .

A football sits on a stadium pitch - this article covers concerns raised over the World Cup Pride march between Iran and Eygpt

The decision to designate a 2026 FIFA World Cup group-stage match between Egypt and Iran as Seattle’s official “Pride Match” has provoked widespread concern, given both nations’ longstanding records of discrimination, criminalisation, and state-sanctioned violence against LGBTQ+ people.

 Announced over three years after Seattle was named as a host city, the match, due to take place on June 26, was confirmed following the World Cup draw, which grouped Belgium, Egypt, Iran, and New Zealand.

As part of the host city’s themed events, Belgium’s match against New Zealand will take place in Vancouver, while Seattle’s  World Cup match, staged explicitly to coincide with Pride celebrations, was allocated to Egypt and Iran, two countries where LGBTQ+ identities are heavily policed and often punished with severe legal penalties.

In Iran, consensual same-sex relations can legally incur the death penalty. Women found to have same-sex relations face 100 lashes for a first offence and the death penalty after repeated offences. In contrast, penetrative relations between men are typically treated as capital crimes. A 2021 United Nations report documented the use of electric-shock “therapy” on LGBTQ+ children. Iranian law also fails to distinguish between consensual same-sex acts and sexual assault, enabling authorities to punish victims as harshly as perpetrators. 

 

 

Egypt, although lacking explicit anti-homosexuality laws, uses broad morality and public decency laws to target LGBTQ+ individuals. Police regularly entrap people through dating apps such as Grindr, and arrests are frequently justified using minimal evidence, including possession of condoms or small sums of cash. Those accused are routinely charged with “debauchery”, “indecency”, or “scandalous acts”, forcing many LGBTQ+ Egyptians and Iranians to seek asylum abroad.

Despite the criticism surrounding the match, Seattle’s Pride Match Advisory Committee has insisted the event will proceed as intended, emphasising the city’s commitment to inclusivity, visibility, and solidarity during the tournament.

 

Committee member Eric Wahl argued that hosting a Pride Match featuring two nations with hostile LGBTQ+ environments may serve as a meaningful platform for global visibility and dialogue. The decision stands in stark contrast to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which prompted international criticism over LGBTQ+ rights and broader human-rights abuses, where rainbow items were confiscated, and the OneLove armband was banned.

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