Body found near Iran’s World Cup training facility

• Body was found minutes from Iranian team’s hotel
• Iran relocated camp from Arizona to Mexico amid US tensions
• Mexican National Guard providing heightened security for team

Mexican authorities have launched a high-profile homicide investigation after a severely decomposed body was discovered inside an abandoned vehicle directly across the street from the sports complex where the Iranian national football team is currently training for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

According to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP), local police discovered the body packed into a black plastic bag in the trunk of a grey Toyota SUV.

The vehicle had been left sitting in a supermarket parking lot directly opposite the Estadio Caliente, the sports venue the Iranian team has visited daily since arriving in Mexico last Sunday.

The crime scene is situated just a one-minute drive from the secure hotel hosting the Iranian delegation, a proximity that has sent shockwaves through the tournament's local organizing committee.

The Tijuana Prosecutor's Office confirmed that an official police patrol flagged the suspicious, out-of-province vehicle, which automated surveillance logs indicated had been parked at the lot since Wednesday.

Upon forcing entry into the SUV, responding officers discovered the wrapped remains, which forensic investigators noted bore visible signs of severe, blunt-force violence. Investigators combed the parking lot for forensic evidence before transferring the body to the local morgue for formal identification.

While local authorities emphasized that there is currently no evidence suggesting the Iranian football delegation was the target of the crime, the proximity of the body to a high-profile international team has drawn intense global scrutiny.

Geopolitical Tensions 

The Iranian national team's presence in Tijuana is itself the byproduct of intense geopolitical volatility.

The squad had originally scheduled its final pre-World Cup preparatory camp across the border in Tucson, Arizona.

However, ongoing military engagements and severe diplomatic breakdowns between Washington and Tehran forced the Iranian athletic federation to abandon its US travel plans at the eleventh hour, shifting operations to the Mexican border town instead.

Armed escorts

Tijuana remains one of Mexico's most volatile metropolitan zones, having already recorded over 1,200 homicides, fueled primarily by localized cartel friction.

Because of the high-risk environment and the sensitive political status of the visiting nation, the Iranian team has been operating under an ironclad security bubble.

Heavy convoys of heavily armed Mexican National Guard troops have been escorting the team buses to and from every training session.

Following the gruesome discovery, the Iranian team’s media officer declined to comment on whether the delegation has requested additional security assets or if the team is considering cutting its Tijuana camp short ahead of the tournament's opening matches.