Iran football team captain defies regime, backs protests: “We have to accept that conditions in our country are not right & our people are not happy. They should know that we are with them. And we support them. And we sympathize with them regarding the conditions”
⚡️ BREAKING: #Iran football team captain defies regime, backs protests: “We have to accept that conditions in our country are not right & our people are not happy. They should know that we are with them. And we support them. And we sympathize with them regarding the conditions.” pic.twitter.com/SX4kenXiTZ
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 21, 2022
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I would guess these players do not have any plans on returning to Iran.
Respect.
Fuck the mullahs fam
This is true bravery!
Irán about to give them a red card
Oh, damn. He’s going to “disappear” when he gets home, isn’t he?
Yellow Card for their team. Cause that’s a political statement I think.
This is courage. Euro teams changing their stance on armbands is pitiful compared to this.
So much braver than the European teams who wimped out of wearing the One Love armbands.
Iranian players carry their balls while European players shit themselves. Besides, Iranians take more risks.
It’s not about taking sides but sticking to it. That’s why Muhammad Ali will remain the greatest athlete of all time. He didn’t play during his prime because he stuck by his principles.
Braver than every single European football team. Thank you for standing up for what’s right 👍🏼
FYI…These guys went to kiss hand and bow to the Iranian president right before flying to Qatar. This is a president who is rep for the supreme leader and was put in office after a sham election. All while Iranians are dying on the streets. The Iranian regime used the WC as a cover to start the most deadly crack down high caliber machine guns, unprecedented since the start of this uprising! They got paid a few hundred dollars for meeting the president! They could’ve declined but they took the peanuts and sold themselves! They also did not kneel during the national anthem as was publicly demanded by the protestors and did the bare minimum of just keeping quiet. They also did a photo-up in Qatar where they seemed too excited and laughing hysterically even though they knew what was happening in Iran, how the regime was using them to intensify the crackdown and that all eyes were on them! Completely inappropriate and felt like a slap in the face of protesters! So they get to the WC and in their first game the Iranian crowd is booing them! They were shocked. These guys have always been like idols and have a bit of a God complex thinking they could get away with anything but they went from being idols and heros to being the most hated group in Iran currently so essentially they are now back peddling!
I was going to say I’m assuming they will be seeking asylum … but Qatar does not seem the place to be doing that.
That is incredibly brave. I hope he isn’t killed for what he said.
Look at this brave Giga-Chad! Respect man!
Quite embarrassing that England gave up on the armbands and resorted to the now inconsequential gesture of kneeling yesterday because of the threat of a yellow card- whilst their opponents put it all on the line for their principles. Says a lot
I would not have guessed all the players of the Iranian football team were named Chad.
The “soon to come up missing” captain of the football team.
Exile chance, extremely high
I wonder if defection is an option? With such defiance just getting kicked out of national team would be considered mild.
All of this is shocking but also encouraging. Maybe Iran is finally on a path to being a place people can travel to, enjoy, and learn about, rather than being an isolated country that boasts about its desire to destroy the non-believers.
They still aren’t doing anything besides lip service because they are just government cronies. Anyone that thinks this is great is the same type of idiot who will ignore a companies long standing human rights abuse because they stuck a rainbow on something for a month.
Welp…He Dead
My respect for their courage is immeasurable. All those women and men dying just for basic human rights can at least look at their football team with so much pride and hopefully that helps them to keep fighting on.
Ballsy as fuck and total respect to them. Really puts the EU teams folding on the armbands so easily in a certain perspective. Not judging terribly, but its not like they would’ve dq’d every EU team if they refused.
Damn that’s ballsy. They’re shooting people in the street.
And other players are scared of a booking.
This guy has more balls than all the other candy ass teams put in their place by FIFA threats.
They potentially lose their jobs or money if they disobey, this guy could potentially lose his life…and he still spoke out.
This is what a sports role model looks like
Does anyone else feel as if this guy is terrified as he’s speaking?? Much respect!
And they’re still getting death threats.
This Islamic Republic regime that controls Iran is horrible. If you speak out against the regime, the government seizes all of your family’s assets. Source: it happened to my family.
It’s sad that the people lack the power to overtake this government. These protests will most likely die down, just like always. No one supports them from the outside, so they will always be out-gunned and subject to propaganda.
Meanwhile, FIFA (and the EU):
https://www.espnfc.com/fifa-world-cup/story/4808986/why-fifa-banned-lgbtq-onelove-armband-at-world-cup-in-qatar
“In response, FIFA has just announced that Iran MUST sing their national anthem or risk fines/yellow cards. “
If you think about it, it’s pretty amazing that we’re able to hold international sporting competitions at all. With how fucked up the world always is, it’s kind of a miracle that we can even pull off a month with representatives from so many countries
That honestly took a lot of courage for him to say. I hope people appreciate that and he doesn’t face any reprisals.
This is all jus fake af. The whole team went to see the president days before the game.
[What happens next.](https://youtu.be/CPUF6dK6MNU)
European teams en bloc deciding not to wear armbands because they are afraid of being booked (yeah, fuck you, FIFA, you gross miserable assholes). Iranians publicly standing against a zealot regime on the world’s biggest stage.
Good on these players.
I think history has shown that any theocracy is bad.
And they were never seen again…