Iraq’s World Cup photographer denied US entry before tournament

Talal Salah was supposed to be inside Iraq’s World Cup bubble, camera in hand, as the team returned to the tournament after a 40-year absence. Instead, the Iraqi national team’s official photographer spent about 10 hours at Chicago O’Hare International Airport before U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied him entry, cutting off the squad’s built-in visual coverage before the competition even started.

The timing sharpened the blow. Iraq qualified as the 48th and final team for the expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup by beating Bolivia 2-1 on March 31, and the side is set to open Group I play on June 16 in Boston against Norway, then face France in Philadelphia on June 22 and Senegal in Toronto on June 26. For a team making only its second World Cup appearance, after its lone trip in 1986, losing the official photographer meant losing the person responsible for the training-ground frames, locker room moments, team travel coverage, and the behind-the-scenes images that usually define how a national side presents itself at a major event.

The rest of the delegation felt the same pressure at the border. Aymen Hussein, one of Iraq’s strikers, was questioned for nearly seven hours at O’Hare before being admitted, while Iraqi sporting officials said his phone was inspected and that Salah underwent similar phone checks before he was turned back. The team had arrived from Dubai with players and staff, but the visit to the United States quickly became a reminder that international football logistics do not stop at the stadium door.

CBP said the inspection was part of its routine process and that admissibility decisions are made case by case using the information available at the time of inspection. The agency’s World Cup travel guidance, last modified on April 16, 2026, tells travelers entering the United States for the tournament to review visa requirements, the Visa Waiver Program, and Form I-94 resources. For photographers working global assignments, that is now part of the kit list alongside lenses, credential cards, and spare batteries.

Salah’s case shows how quickly a visual coverage plan can collapse when border screening overrides a travel schedule. For Iraq, the loss was not just a staff member at the airport. It was the disappearance of the person who would have documented the return, frame by frame, for a team that had waited four decades to get back to the World Cup.