Tehran native and Stony Brook University graduate student Arad Ershad plays soccer with friends at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Posted on 05/07/2026 6:04:49 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
With Iran qualifying for the World Cup , Arad Ershad had visions of splurging on flights and tickets to attend one of the team’s upcoming first-round matches in Los Angeles.
That changed when Ershad, a New York graduate student who grew up in Tehran, saw how many of the players he had adored since childhood failed to speak out following its theocratic leadership’s deadly crackdown on protesters in January.
“It feels so bad that I do not want them to succeed. They were like my icons, my legends,” he lamented during a recent pickup soccer game on Long Island. “I know playing a World Cup is the biggest thing a soccer player can achieve in his life, but how can you just be silent?”
Ershad is one of many diehard soccer fans in the Iranian diaspora with conflicting emotions as Team Melli — the Persian nickname for Iran’s national squad — prepares for its seventh World Cup. Iran is set to begin its campaign against New Zealand on June 15 near Los Angeles, a region that’s home to the largest Iranian community outside of Iran, including many who fled the 1979 Islamic Revolution...
Iranian athletes have faced serious consequences for speaking out. In 2022, a prominent former member of the national team was arrested for allegedly protesting against the country’s leadership. This year, star striker Sardar Azmoun wasn’t selected for World Cup warmup games, reportedly because of a social media post that angered the authorities...
Nader Adeli, who manages Iranian American club team Arya FC’s over-60 squad in Los Angeles, is worried the war might keep Iran from attending the World Cup...
“Sports should never become a political issue,” he said. “As people, we have nothing against any Americans, we have nothing against any Iranians. It is just the governments.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at wbal.com ...
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Tehran native and Stony Brook University graduate student Arad Ershad plays soccer with friends at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
No they are not.
Islam is Islam but soccer is a religion ((ducking)).
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