Iran has played spectacular football at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but the twelfth man is yet to be on their side. Iran’s national anthem hasn’t found a friendly stadium yet at this World Cup. For the third straight match, fans booed loudly as the anthem played ahead of their crucial Group G clash against Egypt. FIFA’s own announcer asked the crowd to “applaud for peace” and got little more than scattered noise back.

It has hit the Iranian national team hard, especially as they were chasing a big win against Mohamed Salah and company. The game ended in a thrilling 1-1 draw, but the spotlight instead was on the crowd’s reaction to the Iranian national anthem. Unfortunately, this has been a trend with Team Melli in the three games they’ve played at the 2026 World Cup.

The opener against New Zealand on Matchday 1 divided the crowd at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, that offered an equal number of jeers and cheers. The atmosphere did change after a spectacular 2-2 draw, but things only worsened on Matchday 2. Once again, with Belgium facing Iran, boos echoed around the SoFi stadium, dominating the atmosphere this time.

It even saw Iranian forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh touch upon the incident, and he kept things very diplomatic.

“We take both,” Jahanbakhsh said, according to Mirror US.

“I think there are good days, bad days for every team, and also, like I said, we play for all the Iranians in Iran, outside Iran, with whatever ideology, whatever preferences they have, and we make sure to make them happy, because I’m sure at the end of the day, they love Team Melli from the heart, and we respect them all.”

However, in the aftermath of the boos around Seattle Stadium ahead of their third group stage game, many on X were unhappy. One kicked off the discussion by stating, “So classless of the US to boo during the National Anthem of Iran.”

That was all it took to open the floodgates, with the scenes before kick-off becoming one of the biggest talking points on social media.

Fans react to Iran’s national anthem being booed again at the FIFA World Cup

“It’s nearly time for Iran-Egypt. A handful of fans held up Pride flags during the Iranian national anthem while boo birds were out in the stadium,” one fan commented.

While the boos have echoed through both SoFi and the Seattle Stadium, the Pride flags have been a source of contention for both Egypt and Iran. Both countries reportedly launched complaints to FIFA about the Pride March being held around the game. According to The Guardian, the complaint asked FIFA to cancel the march and any show of support for it during the game.

However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino made it clear that there was nothing they could do as the annual march has “nothing to do with the match itself”. Furthermore, FIFA couldn’t ban Pride flags inside the stadium for the same reason. It marked two sides of the debate, especially with many fans, like the one above, surprised by the boos in Seattle.

That was echoed by other fans as one wrote, “Seattle Stadium Really Boo’d The Islamic Republic of Iran Before The Start Of Their National Anthem….”

The boos in both Seattle and Los Angeles have come as a surprise to many, especially the latter, given that LA is home to arguably the largest Iranian community outside the country. However, their participation in the tournament has been marred by controversy, including their travel arrangements. It saw the Iran national team coach, Amir Ghalenoei, call them the “most oppressed” side at the World Cup.

“Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! For Iran team’s national anthem! Make it stop!!!!!! 🦁🇮🇷🌞🦁🇮🇷🌞🦁🇮🇷🌞” another fan wrote.

The reaction reflected just how divided the atmosphere has become whenever Iran takes to the field. So much so that the boos are now almost as much a talking point as the football itself. Should they progress to the knockout stages, Team Melli will continue to play against the backdrop of one of the tournament’s most persistent off-field storylines.