Football-loving Iranians celebrate as ‘regime’ team goes out of World Cup

Instead of tears, there were cheers, fireworks and dancing in the streets.

Iran’s national team lost a tightly fought battle against the United States 1-0 on Tuesday night and subsequently crashed out of the World Cup.

But for many Iranians it was a cause of celebration. They were rooting against their own national team, which they viewed as an instrument of a clerical regime they have been battling in the streets since the 16 September death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

In Amini’s hometown of Saqqez, fireworks lit up the sky and residents poured into the streets, honking their horns. In Tehran, the capital, people in multiple districts took to the streets on a chilly night.

“Even though it’s one in the morning, the Islamic Republic has so damaged the people, that the football-loving people of Iran are celebrating the defeat of Iran,” says the narrator of one video clip taken of joyous street gatherings.

“It’s really a strange thing. But it’s excellent. The unity of the people is excellent.”

Iranians are generally obsessed with football, and closely follow their local clubs and their national team. For years, women have tried to circumvent rules that prevent them from entering stadiums to watch matches, a phenomenon that has been the subject of several acclaimed films. Previous victories by the national team, including its historic 1998 World Cup victory over the US, prompted street parades and spontaneous celebrations.

But not last night. There were also reports that Iranian fans at the Al Thumama stadium in Doha, where the match against the US took place, being attacked by supporters of the country’s regime.

Some football fans who showed up in T-shirts with “Women, Life, Freedom” written on them as a message for support for the ongoing protests, were allegedly beaten by a group of men. Some reporters claim they were held by police after photographing such incidents at the stadium.

This comes on the back of claims that Iran was trying to stifle anti-regime protests at the World Cup in collaboration with authorities in Doha, a claim denied by Qatar.

Tuesday’s game was covered prominently in Iran’s official media, which lamented the loss in Wednesday’s headlines as a bitter defeat.

But the ongoing two-and-half month protest movement that has erupted following Amini’s abduction by the morality police has shaken Iran to its core. Society has become intensely polarised between supporters and opponents of the regime.

Celebrities, including leading footballers, have publicly spoken out on behalf of the protesters. One star player, Voria Ghafouri, was briefly arrested before being released on bail. Two of Iran’s greatest football legends, Ali Daei and Ali Karimi, have been subject to death threats for casting their lot with the opposition.

Members of Iran’s national team have refrained from voicing support for the opposition or making public shows of defiance. That has made  Team Melli, as it is called in Persian,  “Team Mullah” in the eyes of many Iranians.

Iranians hissed when the players met with hardline President Ebrahim Raisi just before departing for Doha. The players’ refusal to sing the national anthem before their first game against England somewhat redeemed them. But they sang along at the match against Wales. A leak of documents that suggested the regime was actively seeking to instrumentalise the team to mobilise supporters and quell opponents brought the team even more infamy.