The departure of the World Cup 2026 in South Africa has been delayed due to the Mexican visa problem World Cup 2026 news

The World Cup delegation was held while the players were awaiting visas for Mexico, who will face South Africa in the 11-day opener.

The South African Football Association (SAFA) said the South African teams going to the FIFA World Cup will be delayed due to the suspension of visas to Mexico, who will face them in the opening match of the tournament in 11 days.

The Bafana Bafana team, as South Africa’s national football team is called, was due to take off on a chartered flight from Johannesburg to Mexico City on Sunday morning, but was unable to because the immigration visas for some of the players were delayed.

“The South African senior men’s national team has experienced visa issues for players and other officials, and as a result the team was unable to travel to North America this morning as planned,” SAFA said in a news release.

Mexico will host South Africa in their World Cup opener at the Estadio Azteca on June 11.

“SAFA is working day and night to get the team to Mexico City as soon as possible for the opening game,” it said.

“We are committed to ensuring that the team’s preparations go smoothly, and in the meantime, Bafana Bafana will continue to train in Johannesburg until departure.”

The team were given a big chance in Johannesburg on Saturday ahead of their first appearance in the competition since it was held in 2010, but the flight from OR Tambo airport to Mexico City was cancelled.

SAFA said it had called an emergency committee meeting later on Sunday to discuss the matter following criticism from sports minister Gayton McKenzie, who said it was “disgraceful and unfair”.

“We look like idiots,” McKenzie said on the X platform.

South Africa will prepare for the World Cup against Jamaica on June 5. After facing other players in their first group, they will face Czechia on June 18 and South Korea on June 24.

Hugo Broos announced his 26-man squad on Wednesday, which included two unnamed players.

When the issue of the high number of visas was discussed, many users asked why the team visited Johannesburg before departure if the team officials knew that the players were not issued visas.

South Africa is not the first team to face a visa-related problem at the World Cup.

Members of Iran’s World Cup squad have also been denied visas to the United States, where they play their opening match against New Zealand on June 15 and two more matches later.

According to Iranian media reports on Saturday, FIFA has informed the vice president of the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) Mahdi Mohammadnabi that the inspection process is underway and the visas will be issued this week.

FFIRI President Mehdi Taj said on Wednesday that he hoped the US would do so issuing multiple visas to the World Cup delegates because the team will travel in and out of the country for their games.

Iran moved its team camp from Arizona, US, to Mexico last week.