A Turkish commentator for the 2026 World Cup was immediately fired due to a mistake made during a live broadcast

Murat Ekrem Çimen, a Turkish commentator for the state broadcaster TRT, lost his job due to a major blunder during the first-round match of the 2026 World Cup between Iran and New Zealand. From the very first minutes of the broadcast, the journalist mixed up the teams and, for about five minutes, referred to the Iranian players as New Zealanders and the New Zealand players as Iranians. 

The incident sparked a wave of discussion and jokes among fans on social media, who demanded explanations from the TV channel en masse after the match, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

TRT management responded promptly to the scandal, as such a mistake is unacceptable for a network broadcasting World Cup matches. Initially, Çimen was suspended from working at the World Cup, and later the decision was made to terminate the contract with the commentator, who had over 30 years of experience in sports broadcasting. Company representatives apologized to viewers for the incident and promised to conduct an internal investigation.