Iran Team Refuses to Sing National Anthem at Soccer World Cup

DOHA, QATAR - NOVEMBER 21: Iran players line up for the national anthem prior to the FIFA
Julian Finney/Getty
John Hayward

The Iranian national soccer team defied its theocratic rulers on Monday by refusing to sing the “national anthem” at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Some Iranian soccer fans in the stands joined the protest by loudly booing the anthem when a recording was played over the stadium speakers.

Some members of the crowd brandished protest signs, including blood-stained images of the Iranian flag and the slogan of the protest movement, “Women, Life, Freedom.”

As critics of the regime are quick to point out, the song in question is not actually the “national anthem of Iran” – it is the anthem of the Islamic Republic, the extremist theocracy that seized power in a violent uprising in 1979. 

When the first leader of the regime, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died in 1989, a new anthem was written to replace the song embraced by his revolutionary movement. Many Iranian dissidents refuse to recognize either of the theocracy’s songs as the national anthem, especially since the very short anthem written in 1989 is explicitly an oath of fealty to the “Islamic Republic,” not the nation of Iran.

The World Cup squad, known as “Team Melli,” has been criticized for giving tacit support to the brutal regime in Tehran by agreeing to play while massive protests against the theocracy are sweeping the country.

Iranian social media erupted in anger and dismay when Team Melli players were photographed submissively bowing their heads at a meeting with hardline President Ebrahim Raisi before departing for the World Cup in Qatar. Some Iranians were dismayed enough to say they would root for England against Iran in the match on Monday.

The uprising began in September after a young woman named Mahsa Amini was killed by the thuggish “morality police” for allegedly wearing her mandatory headscarf improperly. The body count is steadily rising as the regime uses lethal force to suppress protests, defying human rights sanctions from the U.S. and Europe.

Even as the Iranian people pleaded with their extremely popular soccer team to support the protests, regime officials threatened harsh punishment for any player who dared to do so. In November, Raisi asked officials in World Cup host country Qatar to help “predict and prevent possible problems” with Iranian players. 

Team Melli player Sardar Azmoun openly expressed support for the Amini protests in a September Instagram post, but it was later deleted, and other players avoided commenting on the protests until Sunday when team captain Ehsan Hajsafi alluded to the uprising in supportive terms at a press conference.

Iran players line up for the national anthem prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and IR Iran at Khalifa International Stadium on November 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

“Before anything else, I would like to express my condolences to all of the bereaved families in Iran. They should know that we are with them, we support them and we sympathize with them,” Hajsafi declared.

“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. Whatever we have is from them. We have to fight, we have to perform the best we can and score goals, and present the brave people of Iran with the results. I hope conditions change as to the expectations of the people,” he said.

Iran’s water polo team also refused to sing the anthem at a match in Thailand two weeks ago, and the Iranian beach soccer team refused to sing the anthem before a game against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai the week before that.

One of the beach soccer players went even further after winning a game against Brazil by pantomiming a haircut – a gesture of defiance against the Iranian theocracy that alludes to the morality police killing Amini because a lock of hair was peeping out from beneath her headscarf.

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