When England play Iran in their World Cup opener on Monday, players’ and fans’ main concern will be that Gareth Southgate’s side perform well and win as they seek to end 56 years of footballing hurt.
But for their Group B opponents, the fixture could have much greater significance. Millions of Iranians will be watching at home and it won’t be the football they are paying the closest attention to.
They will scrutinising the players and fans present in the stadium in Doha for any sign of support for the mass demonstrations in Iran that have followed the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in police custody after her arrest for wearing her hijab “improperly”.
The protests – which have seen more than 320 demonstrators killed by security forces and around 15,000 arrested – have swept the country since September posing an existential threat to the Islamic Republic’s regime.
“I would ask all fans who care about human rights to hold up signs and banners showing their solidarity with the brave young women and men of Iran,” Iranian-born UK-based women’s rights activist, Maryam Namazie, told i.
“Symbolic hair cutting, raised fists, refusal to sing the regime’s anthem will all be meaningful.”
Payam, a London-based Iranian fan, who is travelling to Qatar to watch his country play in the World Cup, believes the Iranian support will back the protestors on Monday, but fears the consequences.
“The fans will definitely say something in the stadium, but they [the regime] are going to send thousands of spies there,” he said. “Then you go back to Iran and you get arrested.”
The 51-year-old, who prefers not to give his second name, cited Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, 33, who broke Iran’s strict dress code by competing without a headscarf in South Korea in what was perceived as a mark of solidarity with the demonstrators.
She then claimed it fell off, but it has been reported that her apology was forced by the Iranian authorities.
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Instagram and Twitter have failed to remove racist trolls who targeted England players at Euro19 November, 2022Iran’s footballers have already shown their willingness to take a stand. In their latest show of defiance, all but two of the team refused to sing the national anthem before a friendly with Nicaragua at the Azadi stadium in Tehran last week.
In September, the players protested by linking arms and covering their white kits with black jackets as they lined up for the anthem. The Iranian authorities had moved the match with Senegal to Austria, to be played behind closed doors, to avoid fuelling the protests.
But Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun, who has mounted a prominent social media campaign in support of the protesters, refused to celebrate after scoring in the match. The Bayer Leverkusen player has dismissed fears his anti-government stance may cost him a place in Iran’s squad, saying “that is worth sacrificing for one strand of Iranian women’s hair”.
This week, Iran’s manager, Carlos Quieroz, the former Manchester United number two, indicated his players would be free to protest at the World Cup, saying “everybody has the right to express themselves”.
Iran’s midfielder Saman Ghoddos – who plays for Brentford in London – 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.”
Other prominent Iranian athletes who have lent their support to the demonstrators include members of the country’s beach football, waterpolo, basketball, and sitting volleyball teams.
Dariush (not his real name) will be watching Monday’s game at an Iranian cafe in Leeds after arriving in the UK on a small boat from across the Channel four months ago, having fled Tehran.
“We are just hoping that these players would show us a sign that they are not happy with what is happening in Iran,” he said.
The 44-year-old said football represented a sense of escape while living under a regime that oppressed individual and religious freedoms, but many Iranians wished the match wasn’t going ahead.
“The result of this game will be followed by 90 per cent of people [in Iran], but because of the revolution going on at the moment people are not very happy.
“The people of Iran wouldn’t want their players to play this game, they want them to protest against the regime in Iran.
“The people of Iran tried really hard to convince the team members not to play, but they are all scared of the government. Seventy per cent of the 80 million population wanted the team to not go.
Ms Namazie believes that Iran’s participation in the World Cup is “unethical and immoral” and backed calls for the national team to be banned from the competition.
“No one wants to ruin football for fans, but we cannot have business as usual when there are massive human rights violations taking place,” she told i.
She cited “massive human rights violations” during 40 years of repression, including sex segregation and the banning of women from stadiums.
“Many women football fans have been violently arrested and taken to the same centre where Mahsa Amini was killed,” she said.
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“Governments and Fifa are carrying on with business as usual over the dead bodies of protesters. Athletes and fans can make a big difference into shaming them into action.”
Payam, who has travelled to support Iran in three previous World Cups, booked his trip to two years ago, but said he would not have done so after this year’s protests.
He has paid £3,000 to spend three nights in Qatar so that he can watch Iran’s match against Wales on Friday.
“A lot of my friends are a bit cross with me, why I am going there,” he said. “They said you should boycott it and don’t go.
“Not singing the national anthem, the same as [Iran’s] beach football team, that shows the players care. They are very brave if they do it. A lot of them, their families are being arrested by the Revolutionary Guards.”
He says he won’t be taking part in any protests, but adds: “Deep down I will salute anybody who does it.”
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