‘We felt robbed’: Iran coach blasts FIFA World Cup travel curbs amid US-Iran conflict

Iran’s 2026 FIFA World Cup coach Amir Ghalenoei criticizes the travel and visa restrictions faced by his team amid US-Iran tensions, highlighting the challenges impacting their preparations and tournament experience.

Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei during the World Cup Group G soccer match between Belgium and Iran in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo)

Iran’s 2026 FIFA World Cup head coach Amir Ghalenoei did not mince words as he furiously unleashed a tirade about the treatment his country’s national team was subjected to ahead of the highly anticipated football tournament, and even now, as 48 teams are being hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. Following a 0-0 draw between Iran and Belgium at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on Sunday, the Iranian coach broke his silence on how the politics surrounding the game extended way beyond the sport itself.

Iran’s FIFA coach speaks out amid US-Iran war

“We were in war conditions for six months, we didn’t have our league operating,” coach Amir Ghalenoei said in a post-game interview, referring to travel troubles the Iranian squad faced in the wake of the ongoing US war with Iran. “We had only one FIFA [friendly] date and it took us 40 hours to go and play a match outside of Iran. And our league was not operating and everybody knows about the visa situation, and they know what happened to us coming to the US.”

“We’ve only been here 16 hours and we have to fly back at 4 pm,” Ghalenoei added. “We don’t even have enough time to recover. And our players have needed time to recover, to be prepared, but we need to go to the airport and go back to Tijuana.”

US officials had previously confirmed that Iran’s FIFA squad would have to leave America within hours of the final full-time whistle of every World Cup match.

“We were clear this was the process,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told The Associated Press news agency.

In similar remarks relayed merely days ago, the Iranian coach said that his team was being “oppressed,” given the last-minute travel upheaval over the still-persisting tensions between the US and Iran.

These developments emerged as the FIFA co-host nation faced backlash over how authorities handled the US visa procedures for the Iranian team and their stay in the US amid the World Cup. Iran’s ambassador to Mexico had told Reuters that the Iranian football federation had to settle with an almost last-minute decision that the team’s base camp would be moved from Arizona in the US to Tijuana, Mexico, amid uncertainty over the team’s US visas.

Iran’s head coach accused World Cup managers of silence amid mistreatment

Noting that Iran felt “robbed,” Amir Ghalenoei even accused the other 47 World Cup managers of staying silent while his team faced disruption, according to the Telegraph UK. “We have many challenges, especially off the pitch,” he said. “I asked the 47 other coaches a question and none of them have responded to me.”

Rejecting any notions of having seen support from the other nations at the World Cup, Ghalenoei noted, “I have not had any reaction from anyone. But it seems like the honourable coach of Belgium [Rudi Garcia] said [in his press conference] we are here for football and not politics.”

Voicing his grievances with the way the World Cup organisers treated them, he continued, “I’ve not heard from other coaches, they are busy with their own teams, and we did not receive anything. I would have done [it].”

According to the Telegraph, Ghalenoei also highlighted that FIFA reached out to the team about their plans of flying to the US. “They [Fifa] phoned me and said: ‘Are you ready if we get you a flight at 6pm?’ I welcomed that, but we sat and waited and waited,” he said. “We waited until 7pm, nothing happened. ‘OK, sorry, we weren’t able to do that.’ That’s going to affect us mentally, especially me as a head coach … I know Fifa is trying its best, I thank them for that, but it doesn’t mean they have succeeded.”

“I hope the world can achieve peace and this behaviour doesn’t become institutionalised at World Cups,” the Iranian coach asserted.

Iran team’s US visa troubles persist

Even Iran’s captain, Mehdi Taremi, said his team was forced to endure hours of security checks despite the trip from Tijuana to Los Angeles being a short one.

Troubles especially escalated for the team when Iran winger Mehdi Torabi’s entry visa expired after the first game. Team officials and the US Department of State have since confirmed that the player has received a new and multiple-entry visa, facilitating his US travel for future matches.

Iran has also announced its plans to lodge a complaint with FIFA over travel restrictions its World Cup squad continues to face in the US and the denial of their request to travel to LA two days before Sunday’s match. “The Football Federation of Iran believes these restrictions are inconsistent with the principles of providing equal conditions for participating teams and may affect their technical preparation,” the federation said in a statement on Friday.

According to FIFA’s 2026 World Cup regulation, stated in Article 18.3, “each team shall travel from its team base camp to the match venue one day before matchday (MD‑1) and in exceptional cases on MD‑2, and shall return to their team base camp after the match (on MD/MD+1).”

On the other hand, a US Department of Homeland Security official addressed the issue in a statement to Reuters: “The team will be allowed to come in match day minus one, so the day before the match. They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match.”

“Again, the President wants to make sure that we’re talking about what actually happens on the pitch. A lot of that is making sure that things are safe and secure, not just around the stadiums, but around base camps and training sites.”

In an interview with CBS News, Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said that some of Iran’s FIFA team’s support staff and other officials were denied entry into the United States, but all players and coaches had gotten visas.

The Iranian squad continues to face travel restrictions in the US despite both countries signing an interim agreement to the ongoing war.