Tehran [Iran], July 1 : Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed the national men's football team following the conclusion of their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign, saying that "striving and fighting with all your being until the very last moment is more important than victory".
Iran ended their WC campaign with a third-place in Group G, with three draws in three games against Egypt, Belgium and New Zealand, including a brave goalless draw against Belgium, one of the strongest sides of the tournament. Iran's WC campaign was also marked by a lot of controversies.
In a post on X, Masoud wrote, "To the members of our national football team who returned to dear Iran today, I say well done. Striving and fighting with all your being until the very last moment is more important than victory. Scientific work, maintaining morale, a transformative approach, and high motivation are the conditions for victory in the future."
https://x.com/drpezeshkian/status/2072329458174894579
Iran's participation in the tournament had been in doubt for months after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on the country in February.
Earlier, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that Iran's football team was treated in what he described as the "most politicised" manner during the FIFA World Cup 2026, according to Al Jazeera.
Iran also moved their World Cup base camp from Arizona to Tijuana in Mexico before the start of the tournament, following uncertainty surrounding travel and entry arrangements in the United States. They had requested FIFA to relocate their games outside the US to no avail.
Following his side's 1-1 draw against Egypt in their final league stage match, Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei urged FIFA president Gianni Infantino to "stand up" to the USA, saying that their behaviour towards the Iranian team was "really terrible" and hurt them "physically and mentally".
Iran also faced logistical challenges throughout the tournament, with several members of their support staff unable to obtain visas, forcing the squad to operate without key personnel. They were also asked to come a day before the match and leave immediately after its completion on the same day.
Speaking after the match, the coach said, as quoted by Sky Sports, "The behaviour, their behaviour (the US) towards us has been really terrible, and I hope the world will be aware of that because they did not let us come two weeks earlier, they did not let us come two days earlier before every game and all this physically and mentally really hurt us. But despite all these problems, we had a war as well, we managed to perform well."
The head coach, Amir also said that he is well aware of the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino's efforts to "minimise their problems as much as possible", but added that "the host was not very good to us (Iran)".
"I know Mr. Infantino, the FIFA president, has tried his best to minimise our problems as much as possible. But it was the host that wasn't very good to us, but please, I urge FIFA, do not let hosts treat players and teams the same way in future World Cups. And I hope Mr Infantino will, you know, actually stand up to such behaviour," he added.
In their last group-stage match against Iran, Mahmoud Sabre gave the Pharaohs the lead after Mohamed Salah's effort was parried, before Ramin Rezaeian equalised for Iran after Mehdi Taremi had earlier seen his penalty saved by Mostafa Shobeir.
Ramin Rezaeian was named Player of the Match, but Iran's late push for victory ended in frustration when a stoppage-time goal was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.