Several national football federations are reportedly considering withdrawing from the FIFAe World Cup 2026, which is scheduled to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this October.
According to sources cited by Sheep Esports, the teams considering withdrawal include England, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Puerto Rico, France, and the United States.
According to the report, the concerns stem from an ongoing regional conflict that has raised questions about the safety of staff and players travelling to Saudi Arabia. Teams have reportedly already begun receiving their tickets for the event, but the security situation in the region has led some federations to reconsider their participation.
FIFA confirmed around a month ago that Jeddah, a city on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, would host the FIFAe World Cup 2026 finals for the first time. The event had been held in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, for the previous two years. Neither FIFA nor the Saudi Esports Federation has publicly explained the reason for the move to Jeddah.
The uncertainty around this year’s FIFAe World Cup follows a pattern affecting esports events hosted in Saudi Arabia since the conflict involving Iran began. Disruptions to Middle Eastern airspace contributed to organisers relocating the Esports World Cup, a separate and larger tournament series, from Riyadh to Paris earlier in 2026. In August, organisers also postponed the planned debut of the Esports Nations Cup, a new country-versus-country tournament that had been set for Riyadh this November, pushing it back a full year to November 2027. At the time, organisers cited an “ongoing assessment of the wider regional situation”.
Traditional sports have faced similar disruptions. The Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, originally scheduled for April 2026 in Jeddah, was cancelled due to regional security conflicts in the Middle East. The event is now officially scheduled to return on the 2027 FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar at the same Jeddah venue from 19 to 21 March 2027.
As of now, no team federation has made a public statement about withdrawing, and organisers have not issued any official comment or announced changes to the event schedule. Based on available information, the tournament is still set to go ahead as planned. The Esports Radar has reached out to the involved parties and will update this story as new information becomes available.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article mentioned “esports federations.” However, the governing bodies for FIFAe competitions are national football federations. The article has been amended accordingly.
