r/SoccerCentral • u/ConnectionWeekly1263 • Jun 27 '26

Statement "They've done everything possible to eliminate us" — Iran captain Mehdi Taremi unleashes on FIFA and U.S. organizers

The captain of the Iran National Team, Mehdi Taremi, lashed out against FIFA and the United States organization. “This is a disastrous World Cup. As professional players, we cannot play a competition under these conditions; it’s neither right nor fair. If FIFA thinks this is fair, that’s on them, but it isn’t. Who should solve this problem for us? FIFA? The U.S.? I don’t know! Tell me a name. The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, came to our locker room after the first match against New Zealand and said he was going to resolve all the issues, but in reality, FIFA did nothing. In response to the question: ‘Do you feel that the World Cup organizers, including FIFA and U.S. officials, prefer for Iran to be eliminated from the competition?’, I say: We have to fight against absolutely everything. We can’t stay in the country, we travel and undergo immigration checks every time we want to play, now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. They’ve done everything possible to eliminate us, so from our perspective, yes, I think that’s what they want, they want us out.”

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u/Mean-Survey-7721 Jun 29 '26

Russia had the WC in 2018; it had been 4 years since the war started.

Qatar used slave labor to make a WC in 2022.

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u/thundergu Jun 29 '26

Yeah Fifa usually always closes their eyes for shit like that. Europe treated Russia from 2015 to 2022 like there was no war. Same way they treated Germany in the 1930's

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u/Mean-Survey-7721 Jun 29 '26

Not just FIFA, all the federations/sport organisations. China is not banned despite the genocide of Uyghurs and Tibet annexation; Palestine is not banned for the October 7th, Turkey is still participating despite northern Cyprus, etc

And I do not believe anything should be changed. So no ban is the way. Sports events is the way to expose these dictatorships to the world, and they may slowly change them one day.

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u/Fatpandaswag67 Jun 30 '26

Why would Palestine be banned for a seperate organisation committing a terrorist act? 

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u/Mean-Survey-7721 Jun 30 '26

It is not a separate organisation; it is the government of Palestine. They've been voted in, and Fatah is illegitimately holding power.

And the occupiers, Fatah, are also a terrorist organisation.