Iran’s misery did not end with the heartbreaking exit from the World Cup. Images from Tijuana during the early morning hours of Saturday clearly told the story. The squad arrived back at their base camp at 4 am. Their World Cup was over, compelled by the same conditions that had governed every match of their tournament: fly in the day before, play the game, leave the country the same night. 

The footage circulated widely. Among those who saw it was Martina Navratilova, the 18-time singles Grand Slam champion and one of sport’s most prominent voices on human rights issues. “There was absolutely no reason to make the Iran team do this other than spite,” she wrote on X.

Iran’s World Cup had been difficult from the get-go since their team arrived in Tijuana ahead of the start of the tournament. They moved their training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Mexico due to visa and diplomatic uncertainty. A minimum of 14 backroom personnel and officials, including important federation representatives, were granted no visas at all and not allowed to travel to any of the matches in the United States with the squad.

For their opening 2-2 draw against New Zealand in Los Angeles, captain Mehdi Taremi described a journey from Tijuana that took five hours due to security and immigration processing, a trip that would normally be among the shortest in the tournament. After the final whistle that night, they were ordered onto a plane back to Mexico with no overnight recovery.

“They didn’t even give us time to recover,” coach Amir Ghalenoei said. “After the game today, they said to us, ‘You have to leave immediately.'”

This protocol was continued for all subsequent games. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, confirmed the conditions publicly, stating that Iran’s team would be allowed in the day before each match and required to leave the same evening the match concluded. He said that national security was the reason. Iran’s football federation called it discriminatory treatment and lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, describing the restrictions as “political interference in sport in its worst form.”

The sporting aspect of Iran’s campaign was truly outstanding on any measure. They drew their opening match against New Zealand 2-2 after going behind twice, held Belgium, the eventual group winners, to a 0-0 draw with a man-of-the-match display from goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. Then they left Seattle, having outperformed Egypt on the overall match stats in the final group game.

After the Belgium match, the team left a handwritten note in the Los Angeles locker room thanking the city for its hospitality and signing it: “We came with pride, competed with honour, and leave with dignity.”

Navratilova was not the only prominent sports figure to respond to how the team had been treated.

Megan Rapinoe praises Iran as travel restrictions draw more criticism 

Former American soccer player Megan Rapinoe, on her podcast A Touch More, praised Iranian athletes for making a statement on the World Cup stage outside of soccer. She said they were following in the footsteps of Iran’s women’s national team, who had refused to sing the national anthem before a Women’s Asian Cup match in Australia earlier this year. 

“To me, they’re filling a gap that men’s football has historically left empty,” Rapinoe said.

Iran has said they intend to take their complaint about the travel restrictions to FIFA, arguing their treatment contradicts the basic conditions of fair participation in the tournament. Whether it yields something formal, remains to be seen. 

What the 4 am arrival in Tijuana on Saturday morning revealed was a team that had played under conditions other World Cup sides were not required to face. The team still managed to deliver a performance that far exceeded what they could have prepared for, and they returned home without even the benefit of a day’s rest.