World Cup Pundit Sparks Outrage With Disgusting Comments in Belgium v Iran

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A 2026 World Cup pundit has come under serious fire for disgusting comments he made during the match between Belgium and Iran on Sunday afternoon.

Belgium and Iran both opened up their World Cup campaigns with a draw. Iran shared the spoils in an entertaining match against New Zealand, while Belgium were held to a goalless draw by Egypt.

Both sides went into their clash at Los Angeles Stadium knowing that a victory would almost certainly see them seal their progression to the knockout rounds of the competition.

However, neither side could find a winner as they drew 0-0.

Belgium needed Lille ace Nathan Ngoy to step up in the absence of star player, Jeremy Doku. However, the 23-year-old was shown a straight red card in the 67th minute after dragging Mehdi Teremi when clear on goal.

Rade Bogdanovic, a former Serbian footballer who was capped three times by FR Yugoslavia, has come under fire for making racist comments in the aftermath of Ngoy's error.

The 56-year-old, who played for the likes of Atletico Madrid and Werder Bremen in his playing career, said on RTS, per the Mirror:

"At this level, to be the last defender, to miss a ball that is standing still and then get sent off... I've always said these players, and I'm not racist, but black players don't have the concentration to last more than 60 to 80 minutes.

"I played with them. Sometimes we had to protect our own players from making mistakes. Modern football doesn't allow this kind of error at World Cup level."

After being challenged by the presenter, the 56-year-old added: "If we wanted to go into details, we could. They make mistakes too. Of course I'm not generalising, but the majority lack concentration and then situations like this happen."

Bogdanovic has apologised for his comments. He told Reuters, per the BBC: "I sincerely apologise for my statement regarding black football players."

RTS also released a statement. They said: “We would like to inform the public that Mr Rade Bogdanovic is not employed by our company, but has been engaged as an expert commentator for the duration of the tournament.

“We would like to take this opportunity to apologise, as a broadcaster, for the statement made in our programme concerning members of a particular race.”

Despite his comments, Bogdanovic was back in the RTS studio on Tuesday for Argentina’s 2-0 win against Austria.