Iran has strongly condemned the decision to use an incorrect flag, which it said violated the statutes of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), world football\u2019s global governing body. The Iranian Football Federation also lodged a protest with the (FIFA), demanding sanctions against the United States team. It also called for the US to be disqualified from the World Cup for its action.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.jpg\")
A US soccer federation screenshot displaying Iran’s national flag on social media without the emblem of the Islamic Republic. (AP)<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cBy posting a distorted image of the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran on its official account, the US football team breached the FIFA charter, for which a 10-game suspension is the appropriate penalty. Team USA should be kicked out of the World Cup 2022,\u201dsemi-official state news agency in Iran (Tasnim) tweeted.<\/p>\n
Safia Allah Faghanpour, a legal adviser to Iran\u2019s soccer federation also said that respecting a nation\u2019s flag is an accepted international practice that all other nations must emulate.<\/p>\n
Fagahanpour also said that measures taken regarding the \u201cIslamic Republic of Iran flag are against the law\u201d of FIFA competitions and the US must be held responsible.<\/p>\n
US coach apologizes for depicting a modified version of Iran\u2019s flag<\/strong><\/p>\n The United States coach Gregg Berhalter apologized for the furor triggered by a social media post depicting a modified version of Iran\u2019s flag and said they were not part of this as they are focusing more on today’s (Tuesday) match.<\/p>\n USA’s coach Gregg Berhalter gives a press conference at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) in Doha (AFP)<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n The US players and coaching staff had been unaware about social posts regarding the flag change. \u201cWe\u2019re not focused on those outside things and all we can do is apologizing on behalf of the players and the staff, but it\u2019s not something that we were a part of,\u201d Berhalter told newsmen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had no idea what US Soccer put out. The staff, the players, we had no idea. For us our focus is on this match and I don\u2019t want to sound aloof, or we\u2019re not caring by saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n To ease tension, the US State Department said it had no involvement in the US Soccer Federation\u2019s decision to remove the \u201cIslamic Republic\u201d emblem from the Iranian flag in its social posts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to a peaceful and competitive match on the field. The United States continues to find ways to support the Iranian people in the face of state-sponsored violence against women and a brutal crackdown against peaceful protestors,\u201d a State Department spokesperson told CNBC in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n Flag row and crucial football game<\/strong><\/p>\n The US and Iran are set to meet in a crucial game that already has drawn political undertones. The loser, if there is any, most likely will be eliminated from the tournament. It is in the knockout stages. There were three matches and the last one between Iran-US was in the World Cup in 1998, with the Iranians securing a 2-1 victory. But in the 2022 World Cup, the Iranian side started off their campaign poorly after the 6-2 thrashing by England, only to put on a redeeming, dominant display against Wales, winning 2-0.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the flag has also become a point of contention among the Iranian football fans as well. The pro-government supporters waved the flag and went on shouting against those demonstrating over Amin\u2019s death. While other Iranian fans waved Iran\u2019s lion and sun flag, an emblem of its former ruler, the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in support of ongoing protests in Iran.<\/p>\n A female Iranian fan was also removed from a match for holding Amin\u2019s T-shirt and some others were arrested by the Qatari police for showing support to the protests in Iran. The arrest was made in the line with the FIFA\u2019s officials fan\u2019s guideline which bans \u201cpromoting any political, offensive and\/or discriminatory messages.\u201d<\/p>\n Difficult to separate sports from politics<\/strong><\/p>\n Indeed, fans don\u2019t want politics brought into any sports, especially in football, a favorite sport to millions of people. Every country must refrain from introducing politics into sports because the lovers want sporting prowess to be pure no matter in football or cricket, or basketball, or gymnastics, or etc\u2026 It is rational to say that sports are, at a baseline, the ultimate meritocracy. In sports we also have a loser and a winner, but the outcome should never be politicalized.<\/p>\n Throughout history, the sport has generally been viewed as a form of entertainment, separate from serious matters of politics. Sport is often considered as a phenomenon that is not related to politics, and many see sports as a way of escaping politics.<\/p>\n But in this tournament \u201cWorld Cup 2022\u201d the football has been intrinsically-linked with the political games, where even players and fans are now engaged in political activities on the ground. The Iranian football players did not sing the national anthem and fans are separated between pro-and-anti-protests. This itself is a political move, and an indication that politics is difficult to separate from sports. Today\u2019s match between US and Iran is especially significant for both sides, not only to qualify for the final 16 of the World Cup, but because of the rivalry between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n Many people also watched Saudi Arabia and Morocco\u2019s victories over Argentina and Belgium, respectively, as political wins. We must learn to watch sports with no eye toward politics. There is need to remember that politics have appeared in the Olympic Games many times in the past several years, but yet the stated goal of the Olympic Movement was to keep sports and politics separate.\u00a0 This is what FIFA also needs to do, and the fans must also learn ethics in sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tensions are set to rise between the US and Iran, the two contention countries in the West and in the Middle East, not only in the political realm but now even in sports. There are several disputation controversies between them, but this time they brought sports to politics. The US and Iran have been bitter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[863,64,503,864,606,866,142,862,865],"class_list":["post-1646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","tag-fans","tag-football","tag-headline","tag-players","tag-political-issues","tag-qatar","tag-sports","tag-sports-and-politics","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/coatch.jpg\")