The Game Behind the Game
During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Iran’s national football team made an unprecedented silent protest. Instead of chanting the anthem, the players stood motionless, a gesture that resonated with the ongoing Woman, Life, Freedom movement inside the country.
Soon after, reports emerged that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had threatened the loved ones of several squad members, pressuring them to sing the anthem or face dire consequences. The coercion illustrated the Guard’s willingness to weaponize personal relationships for political compliance.
Power Play in the League
The Guard’s grip extends to the very infrastructure of Iranian football. Through the Persian Gulf Pro League, it oversees club licensing, referee appointments and even the ownership of storied teams such as Persepolis and Esteghlal. Former IRGC commanders sit on the boards of these clubs, turning sporting institutions into extensions of a broader security apparatus. Mehdi Taj, head of the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran, is a former IRGC intelligence officer who now oversees the federation’s finances.
Financial corruption adds another layer of scandal. In 2014 and 2018, the federation was accused of diverting $1.3 million earmarked for World Cup participation, a sum that vanished without reaching the players. The following year, the regime spent $2.36 million to dispatch agents to Qatar, ensuring that the team’s every move was monitored and that propaganda messages could be broadcast back home. That same year, the IRGC and its Basij militia attended the Asian Cup, a presence that cost the state an estimated $300,000. The darkest episode came in 1984, when captain Habib Khabiri was executed after publicly supporting opposition groups, a stark reminder that dissent on the field can carry a death sentence. More recently, forward Sardar Azmoun was expelled after a photograph with Dubai’s ruler surfaced, and midfielder Mohammed Rachid Mazaheri was arrested for criticizing the government and backing street protests.
A Nation’s Reaction
Despite these abuses, many Iranians applaud the United States’ decision to limit visas for the national team and its officials. They view the travel restrictions as a targeted rebuke of an institution that has turned sport into a tool of regime propaganda.