A Body Was Found in a Trunk Near Iran’s World Cup Base — Here’s What We Know

The World Cup has barely kicked off, and already a grim discovery has cast a shadow over Iran’s tournament preparations. Mexican authorities confirmed Friday that a body was found in a parking lot outside Estadio Caliente in Tijuana — the very stadium where Iran’s national team has been training ahead of its opening match against New Zealand.

The corpse was inside a bag in the trunk of a gray vehicle. Police reportedly opened the car after being overwhelmed by a strong odor coming from the lot across from the stadium, according to local officials. The victim has not been publicly identified, and no arrests have been announced as of Saturday.

Why Iran Is Based in Tijuana

Iran’s national squad set up camp in Tijuana after visa delays and travel restrictions on the team’s coaching staff and administrators made it impossible to prepare on U.S. soil. The move was supposed to be a logistical fix — a way to stay close enough to Los Angeles for Tuesday’s group stage match against New Zealand’s All Whites while avoiding red tape. Instead, the team now finds itself operating in a city that consistently ranks among Mexico’s 10 most violent, according to the Citizens’ Council of Public Security, a Mexican think tank that tracks homicide rates nationwide.

Tijuana recorded 1,219 homicides last year in a city of roughly 2.3 million people. That figure represents a 32% drop from the murder rate in 2024, but it still places the border city in a category all its own when it comes to violent crime.

Context That Matters

The discovery of a body near a team’s training facility would be jarring anywhere. But in Tijuana — a city that has long served as a corridor for drug trafficking and smuggling, and more recently as a gathering point for thousands of migrants turned away at the U.S. border — it’s a reminder of the volatile environment the Iranian squad has entered. The team has not commented on the incident, and it remains unclear whether the body is connected to any broader criminal activity or was simply an unfortunate coincidence of location.

For now, Iran’s focus is on the pitch. But the image of a body bag, a trunk, and a pungent odor wafting across a parking lot just steps from where a World Cup team is preparing is not one that fades quickly — especially given the stakes of the tournament and the scrutiny already on Iran’s program.