Iran’s Football Team Captain Called The World Cup A Disaster, Blaming The US And FIFA For Treating Them Unfairly
The US State Department considered some of Iran's coaching and staff to be linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and denied them visas.
In June 2025, the Trump administration reinstated a travel ban on citizens from 39 countries, including Iran, citing national security concerns.
Athletes, coaches and support staff were given an exemption so they could still compete in the World Cup, which is being co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.
But after the US and Israel launched an unprovoked war on Iran on Feb. 28, Iran’s participation became even more complicated.
The US State Department considered some of Iran's coaching and administrative staff to be linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and denied them visas.
Because of security concerns tied to the war, Iran also moved its World Cup training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, at FIFA's suggestion.
This mean that the team had to cross the US-Mexico border every time they had a match, rather than staying in the country between games.
For most of the tournament, players were only allowed into the US within 24 hours of kickoff and had to leave again shortly after the final whistle.
The team also said it arrived without its usual logistics and recovery personnel and that its ticket allocation for fans was revoked days before the tournament started.
After Iran drew 1-1 with Egypt on Friday, June 26, Taremi said FIFA president Gianni Infantino had promised to fix the problems after Iran's opening match against New Zealand but that nothing had changed.
"It's a disaster World Cup, a disaster," Taremi told reporters after the match. "FIFA they have to solve every problem here, but unfortunately, they could not solve it since the beginning. We don't have our logistics people here, they don't have a visa. How is it possible we always have to travel from Tijuana? We love the people in Tijuana, we love Mexico, they are humble people and we love them, but as a professional player in a professional competition, it's not right, it's not fair."
Iran was eliminated after finishing the group stage with three draws, with Iran's head coach Amir Ghalenoei saying the team had not been allowed to arrive early before matches and that the treatment had "really hurt" the squad on top of the war back home.
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