Iran’s national team captain Mehdi Taremi expressed strong criticism of FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino following the 1-1 draw against Egypt, condemning the organisation of the 2026 World Cup as a “disaster” due to severe logistical issues faced by his squad.
The Iranian team was forced to relocate their base camp to Mexico amid ongoing military tensions with the United States. Taremi and his teammates also encountered significant difficulties entering and exiting the US for their matches. According to Mehdi, Infantino failed to fulfill his promise to improve the situation.
“This World Cup is a catastrophe; a real disaster,” Taremi told reporters. “I mean, FIFA is supposed to solve all these problems here, but unfortunately, from the very start, they have not managed to do so. Infantino came into our locker room after the first match against New Zealand and said, ‘This is just the beginning…’ but the group stage ends tomorrow.
We don’t have our own staff here — they don’t have visas. How is it possible that we always have to travel to matches in the US from Tijuana? We love the people of Tijuana, we love Mexico, but for a professional footballer competing in a professional tournament, this is not normal.
We believe this is unfair. Who wants to help us? If they want us to leave, fine; let’s leave. But this is unfair. We don’t have specialists for recovery and logistics who could support us. We always complain about these things, but no one helps us, no one!”
It is worth noting that Iran has not lost any matches in their group but has yet to secure qualification for the knockout stages. The team’s fate will be decided after all group matches conclude.
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