ST. POLTEN, Austria -- It was supposed to be just a game, nothing more than a World Cup warm-up friendly between Iran and Uruguay in a sleepy town in rural Austria. Perhaps it'd be a perfect opportunity to scout an Iranian team that will face the United States and England in Group B at Qatar 2022 in two months' time. But the reality turned out to be something different.
Instead of a regular international fixture, it became an event at the heart of the growing campaign of unrest in Iran surrounding women's rights, and a focal point for a young population demanding change. The game was scheduled to be played behind closed doors -- though fans from both teams were surprisingly allowed into the stadium shortly before kickoff -- at the insistence of the Iranian government. They were reportedly fearful of domestic issues being given a public platform in Europe, to the extent that phone calls and WhatsApp messages to the Iranian Football Federation (IFF), simply seeking information on the team schedule and access to the coach, Carlos Queiroz, went unanswered.
The silence also extended to ESPN and other media outlets being told 24 hours before the game that the IFF, under pressure from the regime in Tehran, would not allow journalists into St. Polten's NV Arena to report on the fixture. "To our greatest discomfort," the match organisers said via email, "we have to inform you that the entrance to the match Iran vs Uruguay has been denied. This decision was made by the Iranian FA."
It required the intervention of FIFA, and mediation by Europe-based Iranian journalists, to cause a U-turn on the day of the game. A suggestion that media could attend if they handed over mobile phones before entering the stadium did not materialise, but it was made clear that no interviews with players or Queiroz would be allowed before or after the game.
While the urbane Queiroz was welcoming and cooperative with media at the Pyramide Hotel on the outskirts of Vienna on the day before the game, there was a palpable sense of anxiety and paranoia among the Iranian officials who tried to persuade the former Real Madrid coach to cancel his briefing. Given that the football team is one of the few visible elements of a restricted society in Iran -- they face England, the U.S. and Wales in the World Cup this winter -- every element of team coverage, particularly during such volatile political times, is guaranteed to attract close scrutiny from the regime in Tehran.
One Austria-based Iran fan smiled and said, "Everything is fine and totally normal in Iran," when asked about the possibility of protest from those who had turned out to cheer the arrival of the team bus. Moments later, he returned alone to say he had family in Iran and was too worried to speak to western media, but that "even in small cities, people are protesting right now."
When fans were inexplicably allowed into the game, two spectators were marched out of the ground by police midway through the first-half of Iran's 1-0 win. They had a protest placard in support of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who died in police custody in Iran last week after being charged with wearing a headscarf improperly.
In the end, a game intended to be about assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a team that will compete in Qatar this November turned out to be the very definition of political football.
"The 86 million people of Iran, and especially the young women of Iran, deserve better"
For the first time in 43 years, women in Iran are legally allowed to attend men's football games following the lifting of a ban, which dated back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the country barring women from male sporting events.
Despite the law change, introduced ahead of Qatar 2022 following pressure from FIFA after women were pepper sprayed outside a World Cup qualifier against Lebanon in March, women must sit separately from men and use female-only entrances when attending games in Iran.
Football has long been a cause of concern for the Iranian government due to the prospect of large crowds protesting against the regime, while prominent footballers have used their status to speak out against the policies of the religious clerics who control the country. In some games since the lifting of the ban, women have held aloft placards in tribute to Sahar Khodayari, who died in 2019 when she set herself on fire after being charged with "openly committing a sinful act by appearing in public with a hijab" and "insulting officials" when caught trying to watch Esteghlal play Al Ain while disguised as a man.
"It's my opinion that Iranian athletes should not be allowed to compete on the world stage because the Iranian Islamic government uses athletes and sport to portray the country as a normal member of the family of nations," Sardar Pashaei, a former world wrestling champion and coach of the Iranian wrestling team, who is now based in the USA, told ESPN.
"The Islamic Republic has prohibited millions of Iranian women from participating in many sports and has taken away their opportunity to participate in international arenas," Pashaei said. "Protesting athletes are often imprisoned and even executed, like Navid Afkari." Afkari was an Iranian wrestler who was sentenced to death and executed in Sept. 2020 after being charged with murder and organising a protest; Afkari claimed he had been tortured into making a false confession.
Voria Ghafouri has not played for Iran since criticizing the country's foreign policy in 2019, while former Iran and Bayern Munich midfielder Ali Karimi, who wore a green wristband in support of an opposition leader during the 2010 World Cup, has used his social media channels in recent days to highlight the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police. Amini had been arrested for wearing a hijab headscarf "improperly." (Four players, including Karimi, were "retired" from national team duty for wearing those wristbands.)
