A representational picture of Iranian footballers celebrating throughout Group match between Iran and New Zealand throughout Fifa World Cuo 2026. — Reuters/File
Iran’s World Cup workforce will lodge a grievance with Fifa claiming they’re being subjected to journey restrictions in the course of the match in North America, the Iranian soccer federation spokesman mentioned on Thursday.
“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” the spokesman mentioned.
Iran wished to fly from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, to the US two days earlier than their subsequent match, in opposition to Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
However the Iranian federation mentioned its request was turned down.
“Given that the game will be played at 12:00pm (local time) in Los Angeles, the Football Federation of Iran requested that the team be allowed to travel to Los Angeles two days before the match,” the spokesman mentioned.
“The aim was to provide sufficient time for players to adapt to the match conditions, complete their final training session, and finalise preparations.
“Regardless of the technical causes introduced by the federation, the request was as soon as once more denied.”
The Iranians were also angry that they had to leave Los Angeles the night of their first game of the World Cup, a 2-2 draw against New Zealand.
The US administration has pushed back against the Iranian claims.
Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Fifa Task Force, said on Monday that Iran had been informed in advance that they would be allowed to come into the United States only on the day before the game.
“They’ll be requested to depart the day that the match wraps up, so the night of the match. They usually’ll be capable to do this once more in Los Angeles.”
He added that the process can be the identical for Iran’s remaining group recreation in opposition to Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
