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Iran captain Mehdi Taremi launches scathing attack on FIFA and Gianni Infantino: 'The World Cup is a disaster'
Mehdi Taremi accused FIFA chief Gianni Infantino of not resolving the issue after giving assurances.
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi slammed FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino over their disastrous handling of the ongoing 2026 World Cup. Taremi accused the organisers of failing to resolve logistical and visa issues. Meanwhile, it wasn't just Taremi who slammed FIFA; head coach Amir Ghalenoei also criticised FIFA for letting tournament co-hosts the US treat his team unfairly.
The squad's 2026 World Cup campaign has been overshadowed by visa issues, which also prevented 11 senior officials from joining the team. The squad also had to shift their base to Tijuana, Mexico, and repeatedly had to travel to the US for their group-stage matches, which led to issues with recovery and logistics.
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‘It’s a disaster World Cup; a disaster’
Taremi also accused Infantino of not resolving the issue after giving assurances. Speaking after Iran's 1-1 draw vs Egypt in their final group stage fixture, Taremi said, "It’s a disaster World Cup; a disaster."
"I mean, FIFA, they have to solve every problem here but unfortunately they could not solve it since the beginning. Mr Infantino came to our changing room after the first game against New Zealand and said, ‘It’s just the beginning'.
"We don’t have our logistic 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. Our opinion is, it’s not fair. Is it fair for FIFA? OK, good to them. But it’s not fair. Who wants to help us? If they want us to be out, then OK, let’s get out. But that’s not fair. We don’t have recovery or logistic people to help us. We always complain about these things but no one helps, no one."
Ghalenoei was brutally direct in his criticism of the situation. "I know Mr Infantino has tried his best to minimise the problems as much as possible but it was the host that wasn’t very good to us," he said.
"I urge Fifa to not let the hosts treat teams and players the same way in the future. I hope Mr Infantino will actually stand up to such behaviour.
"Their behaviour towards us has been really terrible and we hope the world will be aware of that. They didn’t let us come two weeks earlier and two days earlier before every game. This has really hurt us. And we had a war as well. Despite all of these problems, we’ve been able to perform well and the world is proud of Iranians and our team. I think that’s our greatest achievement despite all the obstacles and the hurdles they put in our way," he added.
