America refuses entry to world champion due to charity match

Ibrahim bin Mohammed from Riyadh

Saturday, July 18, 2026 13:48 | 1 minute read

The US authorities refused to grant former Spanish international star Juan Capdevila an Electronic Travel Authorization (ESTA) to enter its territory, definitively preventing him from traveling to New York to support his country's team in the 2026 World Cup final against Argentina, scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, July 19 at MetLife Stadium, according to Spanish media.

This shocking decision came because the defender of 'La Roja' and world champion in the 2010 World Cup participated in a friendly charity match in 2016 in the Iranian capital Tehran, as part of the 'Legends of La Liga' team, and this old presence activated a strict clause in US immigration law that prohibits granting automatic travel permits to anyone who visited Iran after March 2011.

Capdevila revealed in statements to the Spanish radio program 'El Partidazo de COPE' that the US electronic system rejected his request immediately, confirming that the US border systems do not classify the trip as a sports event but as a visit to a prohibited land.

The former La Roja defender made an urgent appeal on his account on platform 'X', directed directly to US President Donald Trump and Spanish authorities for exceptional intervention, but the flexibility of US laws in this regard is completely non-existent.

Canceling this refusal requires applying for a traditional tourist visa (B1/B2) from the US embassy through a personal interview that takes weeks, and with the crisis coinciding with the weekend and the proximity of the match, his chance of traveling has become impossible.

Capdevila had planned to travel with his children at the official invitation of the Spanish Football Federation to celebrate with his colleagues from the golden generation of 2010, but strict US security scrutiny prevented his family's wish from being fulfilled.