http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/23/iran-football-protest-ban

Quote :

"Their gesture attracted worldwide comment and drew the attention of football fans to Iran's political turmoil. Now the country's authorities have taken revenge by imposing life bans on players who sported green wristbands in a recent World Cup match in protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election. According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players – Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 – have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul. They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands in the colour of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, which has been adopted by demonstrators who believe the 12 June election was stolen. Most of the players obeyed instructions to remove the armwear at half-time, but Mahdavikia wore his green captain's armband for the entire match. The four are also said to have been banned from giving media interviews. The fate of the other two players who wore the wristbands is unknown. None of the team members were given back their passports upon returning to Tehran after the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw – a result that ended Iran's hopes of qualifying for next year's tournament. Karimi is one of Iranian football's best-known stars, having played for the German club Bayern Munich. Ka'abi played for Leicester City for several months during the 2007/8 season. Hashemian and Mahdavikia play for the German teams Bochum and Eintracht Frankfurt. The gesture acutely embarrassed Iranian officials. The team's chief administrative officer, Mansour Pourhiedari, initially claimed the wristbands had been intended as a religious tribute to a revered Shia figure in the hope that it would deliver a victory on the pitch. Iran's hardline media have since linked the protest to the arrest on Saturday of Mohsen Safayi Farahani, who headed the country's football governing body under the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. He is one of several dozen opposition politicians, intellectuals and journalists to have been detained. Hezbollah, a pro-Ahmadinejad website, accused Farahani, a member of the pro-reform Islamic participation front, of bribing the players to wear the symbols. Farahani was one of several prominent figures accused by Ahmadinejad of corruption during the recent election campaign. Ahmadinejad, a known football fan, has taken a close interest in the sport's affairs. In 2006 Iran was banned from international competition by the world governing body Fifa after claims of improper interference by his government. The ban was later lifted. This year the national team coach Ali Daei was sacked, reportedly on Ahmadinejad's orders, after a 2-1 home defeat by Saudi Arabia."

6/23/2009 3:52:23 PM

saw this coming from a mile away. those 4 players are the biggest names in Iranian football, FUCK this sucks balls.

Quote :

"This year the national team coach Ali Daei was sacked, reportedly on Ahmadinejad's orders, after a 2-1 home defeat by Saudi Arabia.""

yea i was really surprised when i heard about that a couple months back.

Ali Daei has been a name in Iranian football for a hell of a long time and he's the world record holder for most international points scored. Everyone was looking forward to see him excel as a coach after he got out of the game as a player.

He brought in a whole new set of players while keeping 3 or 4 veterans around and looked really promising. He never lost an international match as a coach with his new team until that loss against Saudia Arabia, which he had beaten before. He tied a couple times but had never lost.

firing Daei was a big mistake, but it's not like we're not accustomed to Ahmadinejad making any of those or anything.

6/23/2009 4:01:07 PM

That's what happens when governments run football in a country. There's a reason FIFA will sanction the shit out of an association for that.



This blows, though.

6/23/2009 4:21:03 PM

I dont follow Iranian football too closely but was shocked to find my old club soccer coach, Afshin Ghotbi, is now the Iranian head coach. I sure as shit hope he doesn't get into a ton of trouble for allowing his players to go onto the pitch with those wristbands. I knew Ahmadinejad was going to be a douche about this whole thing though.

6/23/2009 4:48:49 PM

The folks here in the U.S. are mighty fortunate and blessed NOT to have to live in Iran!

6/23/2009 8:16:45 PM

^^wow, small world.

Yea I wish only the best for Afshin, he's got a hell of a mess on his hands and it's going to take a miracle to start cleaning things up.

The current state of soccer in Iran is actually really bad. There's a lot of individual talent but teams just aren't being managed well. My dad and I were watching a game a couple months back where a small local team (semi-pro players) in southern Iran played the #1 club (professional players) of one of the neighboring countries (for the life of me i can't remember which country) and the semipro Iranians slaughtered them. Not to say that things like that don't happen everywhere, but it just goes to show how the whole football organization has it's head in the shitter.


[Edited on June 23, 2009 at 8:18 PM. Reason : ]

6/23/2009 8:17:11 PM

If terpball is posting, I guess that means he didn't die in the metro train wreck

6/23/2009 8:17:58 PM