This is the Iran and New Zealand’s first meeting at a FIFA World Cup. Both sailed through qualification stage, with Iran losing only one game in a 16-match event while New Zealand reached a third finals on the back of a flawless campaign in Oceania.
Scroll down to read updates from the FIFA World Cup 2026 game between Iran and New Zealand.
Coming up, Iran on US soil: Tension, security – and divided fans
Iran fans wave as players arrive in Tijuana, Mexico, for the World Cup. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Los Angeles has another name. Iranians call it Tehrangeles, home to the largest concentration of Iranians outside Iran itself. On Monday evening, it stages a football match unlike any in World Cup history: involving a country engaged in a military conflict with the host nation until a day before the game. Iran face New Zealand on Monday while a peace deal between Iran and USA was agreed on Sunday.
The deal notwithstanding, Iranian players will cross over into the US from their base in Mexico’s Tijuana the day before their games, play the match, and return to Mexico the same night. These are the logistics of war, in a tournament built for peace.
“I’ve been to three World Cups and they always say, once you get off the plane and enter the host country, there’s just a unique atmosphere of friendliness and globalness,” striker Mehdi Taremi, who will play in his third World Cup, said from Tijuana last week. “Unfortunately, I’m not feeling it right now. There’s a lot of tension. You feel it in the atmosphere.”
