--- title: Iran Soccer Star Banned for Spongebob Squarepants Outfit description: Iran's national goalkeeper Sosha Makani has been suspended for six months after moral authorities took issue with his clothing canonical: https://time.com/4362340/iran-goalkeeper-sosha-makani-spongebob-squarepants-soccer-football/ author: Amanda Calvo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-09T09:24:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:10.724Z article:section: Sports og:title: Iran Soccer Star Banned for SpongeBob SquarePants Outfit og:description: Iranian morality police took issue with Sosha Makani's bright yellow trousers og:url: https://time.com/4362340/iran-goalkeeper-sosha-makani-spongebob-squarepants-soccer-football/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Iran Soccer Star Banned for SpongeBob SquarePants Outfit twitter:description: Iranian morality police took issue with Sosha Makani's bright yellow trousers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Iran's Goalkeeper Has Been Suspended for Wearing a SpongeBob SquarePants Outfit by [Amanda Calvo](https://time.com/author/amanda-calvo/) ## Amanda Calvo Jun 9, 2016 9:24 AM UTC by [Amanda Calvo](https://time.com/author/amanda-calvo/) ## Amanda Calvo Jun 9, 2016 9:24 AM UTC Iran’s national goalkeeper Sosha Makani has been suspended for six months after a photo of him circulated on social media in yellow trousers that many said reminded them of the animated character SpongeBob SquarePants. The Iranian Football Federation’s Morality Committee took issue with the outfit as being inappropriate according to the BBC. > [](https://twitter.com/Tavaana/status/740725277450469376) The ruling can be appealed but it may not be as easy given that this is not Makani’s first offense, the BBC says. Iran has strict social laws on dress and behavior, and he was arrested after pictures of him with a woman he was not related to surfaced in January. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36484440)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4362340/iran-goalkeeper-sosha-makani-spongebob-squarepants-soccer-football/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4362340/iran-goalkeeper-sosha-makani-spongebob-squarepants-soccer-football/"},"headline":"Iran's Goalkeeper Has Been Suspended for Wearing a SpongeBob SquarePants Outfit","datePublished":"2016-06-09T09:24:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:10.724Z","description":"The Iranian morality police took issue with his bright yellow trousers","url":"https://time.com/4362340/iran-goalkeeper-sosha-makani-spongebob-squarepants-soccer-football/","keywords":["Soccer","Newsfeed","Iran","Sports topic","Football"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda Calvo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/amanda-calvo/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/soccer/","name":"Soccer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4362340/iran-goalkeeper-sosha-makani-spongebob-squarepants-soccer-football/","name":"Iran's Goalkeeper Has Been Suspended for Wearing a SpongeBob SquarePants Outfit"}}]}] ```