The 2026 World Cup is the first 48-team edition, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, running June 11 to July 19. For the diaspora it is the rare tournament that lands in your own time zones and cities — and the one question most families ask is simpler than any group table: how do we watch it in Persian, on the TV, without fighting a VPN.
Watching in Persian, on the big screen
In Iran the World Cup airs free-to-air on the state broadcaster, and those same channels are the ones we carry. The draw is the commentary you grew up with — the Persian call of a match is half the pleasure — on a real television rather than a phone.
| Channel | What it carries | On K-Time |
|---|---|---|
| IRIB TV3 — شبکه ۳ | Iran’s main football channel; carries live matches | Yes (+ backup feeds) |
| IRIB Varzesh — ورزش | The dedicated sports channel, full match coverage | Yes (+ backup feeds) |
| Varzesh TV / Aparat Sport | Persian sports programming and highlights | Yes |
On K-Time you open Live TV, scroll to the IRIB channels, and the match plays in Farsi — no satellite dish, no VPN, no geo-block. That holds for whichever match you want: the host nations where you now live, the favourites, or the knockout rounds. If one feed is busy at kickoff, the backup feeds for TV3 and Varzesh sit right beside the main channel.
If you’re following Iran’s matches
For many in the diaspora the relationship with the national team is complicated right now, and that is yours to navigate — we are not here to tell anyone who to cheer for. If you do want to follow Iran’s games, here is the group schedule, plain and simple. Iran is in Group G with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand, and plays all three group matches in the US.
| Match | Date | Kickoff (PT / ET) | City |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iran vs New Zealand | Mon, Jun 15 | 6:00 PM / 9:00 PM | Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium) |
| Belgium vs Iran | Sun, Jun 21 | 12:00 PM / 3:00 PM | Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium) |
| Egypt vs Iran | Fri, Jun 26 | 8:00 PM / 11:00 PM | Seattle (Lumen Field) |
Equally, plenty of people will spend this tournament following the host nations or the eventual winners instead — and the Persian broadcast covers all of it the same way.
A note on reliability
Live TV is live: a single state feed can stutter at the busiest moment of a big match. That is exactly why we carry TV3 and Varzesh with multiple backup feeds — if the main channel chokes at a goal, switch to a backup and you are back. For the calmest experience, open the channel five minutes before kickoff rather than at the whistle.
Watching on K-Time
K-Time Live TV runs on Android TV, Fire TV, Google TV and Nvidia Shield, with the Persian channels that carry the World Cup — no VPN, no geo-block. Start a free trial, or pick up the pre-configured K-Time دستگاه at an Iranian shop in the Greater Toronto Area, plug it into the TV, and watch the tournament in Farsi. Between matches, the 2025 Iranian film slate and our live-TV guide are a good place to pass the days.
Schedule per FIFA and FOX Sports as of June 2026; kickoff times and channels can change — check the in-app Live TV listing on match day.