A 30-Year Veteran Called Iran ‘New Zealand’ Live on Air — TRT Pulled Him From the World Cup

In a gaffe that left viewers and network executives stunned, a Turkish state broadcaster removed a veteran commentator from its World Cup coverage after he repeatedly swapped the names of Iran and New Zealand during a live broadcast. The mistake came just minutes into a match that carried significant geopolitical weight.

TRT confirmed late Tuesday that Murat Ekrem Çimen — a commentator with more than three decades of experience, according to local media — had been pulled from the network’s U.S. World Cup team pending an internal investigation. He will not call any further matches during the tournament.

According to reports in Turkish outlets, Çimen referred to Iran’s attacks as coming from New Zealand and vice versa in the opening minutes of Monday’s Group G showdown. The game ended in a 2-2 draw, with Iran clawing back from behind twice to earn a point. Elijah Just scored both goals for New Zealand, while Ramin Rezaeian and Mohammad Mohebi answered for Iran.

TRT did not mince words in its apology. We apologize to our viewers and the public for this error, the broadcaster said. It is unacceptable for TRT that someone with over 30 years of experience in sports broadcasting would make such a mistake.

More Than a Misstep

The mix-up landed especially awkwardly given the backdrop of Iran’s tense relationship with the United States, one of the World Cup’s co-hosts. Iran’s buildup to the tournament was anything but smooth. The team set up a training base in Mexico and flew into the U.S. only for each of its three group matches — an arrangement that Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, called deeply unfair.

After Monday’s match, Ghalenoei didn’t hold back. We’ve spent so much time commuting in the air, he said. Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup.

He said the team was told to leave the stadium immediately after the final whistle and head back to Tijuana, leaving little time for recovery. They didn’t even give us time to recover after the game today, Ghalenoei claimed. It’s very important for us to have time for recovery and yet we were asked to return to Tijuana and we are really troubled by that. We do not know why they are returning us. I think it’s very strange.

The tournament’s organizing body has not publicly responded to Ghalenoei’s accusations. The situation has drawn attention from fans online, with many pointing out the irony of a simple name swap happening in a match surrounded by such high stakes.