LOS ANGELES, June 9 -- Iran's footballers will open their World Cup in a stadium with no place set aside for the people who came to cheer them. Days before the tournament begins, the United States, one of its three hosts, has revoked Iran's entire allocation of tickets for its supporters, leaving the national team's fans unable to buy a single seat through official channels for any of its group games.

Iran's football federation said the withdrawal stripped away the quota that FIFA guarantees every competing nation, normally 8 percent of the tickets for each match. The body had already begun selling those seats to fans for Iran's group fixtures against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt, with supporters making travel plans around them, when t...