An arbitration incident that took place during the Iranian national team’s match in the 2026 World Cup turned into a legal dispute, after a lawsuit was filed in the United States against the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), demanding compensation amounting to one billion dollars on the grounds of causing “emotional harm” to millions of Iranians following the national team’s exit from the tournament.








Lotfallah Kaveh Afrasiabi, a former advisor to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team who resides in the United States, filed a lawsuit before a federal court in Boston, in which he demanded that it be approved as a class action lawsuit on behalf of about 91 million Iranians and Iranian-Americans.

The lawsuit was based on what the plaintiff described as “discrimination and double standards,” considering that the decision to cancel a goal scored by defender Shoja Khalilzadeh in the fatal hour against Egypt after reviewing the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology was “wrong and deliberate,” and contributed to Iran’s exit from the group stage, causing “extensive psychological and moral damage” to millions of fans.

Afrasiabi said that the requested compensation, amounting to one billion dollars, “may be less than the extent of the psychological damage,” considering that what happened represents “a collective insult to the Iranian public.”

At the same time, the captain of the Iranian national team, Mehdi Taremi, criticized what accompanied his country’s participation in the tournament, describing it as “disastrous,” pointing to organizational and logistical problems related to visas, residency, and movement between the United States and Mexico.

For its part, the team’s technical staff confirmed that it faced great difficulties before and during the tournament, including not granting visas to some members of the delegation, in addition to moving the training camp to Tijuana, which imposed additional physical burdens on the players.

Coach Amir Qala Nooyi also described the Iranian team as “the most affected in the tournament,” referring to the organizational and political challenges that accompanied participation.

There has not yet been any detailed official comment from FIFA regarding the lawsuit, while the American courts are expected to begin the first hearings in the case during the coming period, which may raise a discussion about the responsibility of sports institutions for arbitration decisions and their repercussions on the fans.