In Iran the importance of soccer is such that it was thought that it could be a motor of political change. Especially since his team qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France, after beating Australia. Crowds then poured into the streets and thousands of women poured into Azazi Stadium to join in the celebrations, many without veils. There was an explosion of jubilation, but also defiance of religious taboos and government warnings.
The victory in Qatar's World Cup match against Wales brought people back to the streets of Tehran despite the repression of the regime, fearful of the scope of the protests over the death of the young Mahsa Amini, arrested for not getting along put on the hijab In addition, the team did not sing the country's anthem in the match against England and banners against Ayatollah Khamenei were seen in the stadium.
In the middle of the championship, the Iranian theocratic regime has executed two young people, without any defense. The last, whose photograph horrified the civilized world, was a 23-year-old boy who was hanged on top of a crane in the middle of the city so that everyone could see what happens to the protesters. And the satraps that rule in Iran have already announced that the next one will be the soccer player Amir Nasr-Azadani, 26, who played three years in a First Division team in the country.
But the world of soccer seems to look the other way. Only the international players union has denounced this announced death on the networks. As Mònica Planas wrote yesterday in the pages of Mundo Deportivo, the silence of the footballers could not be more disappointing: “They use the networks for real bullshit, but they are incapable of lifting a finger to claim the life of a colleague who has been sentenced to death. Gallow". It is as if they live on another planet or the World Cup prevents them from taking care of the important things.
The visibility of soccer could have served to put more focus on the situation in Iran although, as soccer scholar Simon Kuper has written, the sport is a good way to study what happens in repressed societies, but it rarely changes them. But now, what it is about is saving a footballer from an unfair death. Of a crime.
