Six reasons to watch Iran vs England world cup game today: Will Iran footballers and fans protest?
Ever since Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died three days after her arrest in Tehran over an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women, which includes the mandatory hijab headscarf, protests have erupted across the nation. In the recent weeks, Iran’s footballers and football fans too have joined in.
1) In September, in a game against Senegal, Iran’s players came out to the dugout wearing black jackets to cover their national team logos during the national anthem in support of the women of Iran. The Iranian authorities had moved the match with Senegal to Austria, to be played behind closed doors, to avoid triggering protests.
The Iranian football legend Ali Karimi also voiced his support on social media. So has the star player Sardar Azmoun, who put out a series of social posts in support. He has also said that he doesn’t fear the risk of being targeted by the authorities as “that is worth sacrificing for one strand of Iranian women’s hair”.
2) Defender Ehsan Hajsafi has said that he is with the protesters. Ahead of the England game, he had said: They should know that we are with them. And we support them. And we sympathise with them regarding the conditions, Hajsafi told a news conference. “We have to accept the conditions in our country are not right and our people are not happy. We are here but it does not mean we should not be their voice or we should not respect them.”
3) Not all players have been as vocal. On Friday, Karim Ansarifard and Morteza Pouraliganji refused to answer questions about the protests. On Thursday, the captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who plays for Dutch club Feyenoord, lashed out at the England’s media.
“To be honest, I’m not sure if England wasn’t in our group you would have come up with this question, firstly. And secondly, we have been facing this already for a couple of weeks with all the English media – this was all the headlines as we get closer to the World Cup, whatever the reason is,” Iran’s captain Alireza Jahanbaksh lashed out, accusing the English media of playing “mental games”.
4) The manager Carlos Quieroz, who was the former Manchester United number two, has already said that his players are free to protest at the World Cup, saying “everybody has the right to express themselves”.
5) Iran’s midfielder Saman Ghoddos, who plays for London’s Brentford club, says he has been speaking to his international teammates every day about the situation in Iran.
“No one is happy about it and everybody wants to see a change,” he told The Athletic this week. “The change is very easy. What the people want is nothing special — it’s just freedom.”
6) Reuters reported that a banner of Iran’s national team was set on fire in Tehran and also quoted a social media post saying: “”No matter what result the hated team of the Islamic Republic gets, we will gather in the streets to celebrate the defeat of the Islamic Republic’s team while chanting revolutionary slogans.”
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