{"id":647180,"date":"2026-06-19T13:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/647180\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:06:08","slug":"iran-to-lodge-complaint-with-fifa-over-restrictions-imposed-on-team-at-world-cup-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/647180\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran to lodge complaint with Fifa over \u2018restrictions imposed\u2019 on team at World Cup | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Iran plan to lodge a formal complaint with Fifa regarding the \u201crestrictions imposed by the organisers\u201d on the team at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/world-cup-football\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Cup<\/a>, after being told they will only be permitted to arrive in Los Angeles 24 hours before Sunday\u2019s crucial game against Belgium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/jun\/16\/iran-new-zealand-world-cup-2026-group-g-match-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iran\u2019s Group G opener with New Zealand<\/a>, their head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, argued they are the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/jun\/16\/amir-ghalenoei-iran-coach-mehdi-taremi-fifa-us-world-cup\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cmost oppressed\u201d team at the tournament<\/a>. Iran\u2019s captain, Mehdi Taremi, said the logistical issues meant recent weeks had been a \u201cdisaster\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The comments stemmed from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/iran\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iran<\/a> being informed they had to fly to their team base in Tijuana, Mexico immediately after their draw at Los Angeles Stadium, rather than return the following day after a recovery session.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Iran are understood to feel compelled to complain to Fifa after being advised that, as before their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/live\/2026\/jun\/16\/fifa-world-cup-2026-live-iran-v-new-zealand-updates-irn-vs-nzl-group-f-match-score-latest\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2-2 draw with New Zealand<\/a>, they will not be allowed to arrive in the US two days before the match. The federation is understood to have presented its case for wanting longer to prepare in the host city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">It is particularly unhappy at those constraints on this occasion because it is a midday kick-off local time in LA on Sunday, leaving Iran to travel to Los Angeles International airport on Saturday. Their opening game was a 6pm kick-off local time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In a statement released on Friday, the federation said: \u201cThe football federation of Iran believes that such restrictions are inconsistent with the principle of providing equal conditions for all participating teams and may negatively affect teams\u2019 preparation processes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cConsequently, the federation will formally express its dissatisfaction and lodge an official complaint with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/fifa\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fifa<\/a> through the appropriate channels. Despite these limitations, Iran\u2019s national team will continue its preparation programme and remain fully focused on its upcoming match against Belgium.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Fifa has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran plan to lodge a formal complaint with Fifa regarding the \u201crestrictions imposed by the organisers\u201d on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-647180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}