Iran and New Zealand meet in their 2026 FIFA World Cup opener on Monday, June 15, 2026 at 9:00 p.m. ET from Los Angeles Stadium. Iran, ranked 20th by FIFA, are appearing at their seventh World Cup — a milestone made more notable by the fact that this marks back-to-back World Cup appearances for the first time in the nation's history.

Iranian Saied Assadi, owner of the Comida Persa Iran restaurant, and his Mexican partner Claudia Leonardo pose outside the venue in Rosarito, on the outskirts of Tijuana, where a small Iranian community reflects broader political divisions within the diaspora ahead of the team’s World Cup campaign,

The smallest nation by population in the tournament comes face-to-face with the four-time winners on Sunday when tiny Curacao play Germany in a true World Cup fairytale.

The pins are a tribute to the 168 people, mostly children, who were killed at an elementary school in southern Iran just minutes after the U.S. and Israel launched their initial attacks on Iran on the morning of February 28.