--- title: Iran’s World Cup Team Remained Silent During National Anthem description: In an apparent show of support for the ongoing protests back home, all 11 starting players stood silent while the Iranian anthem played. canonical: https://time.com/6235549/iran-world-cup-national-anthem-protest/ author: Astha Rajvanshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-11-21T16:05:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:05:19.736Z article:section: Sports og:title: Iran’s World Cup Team Stayed Silent During National Anthem og:description: In an apparent show of support for the ongoing protests, all 11 starting players stood silent while their anthem played. og:url: https://time.com/6235549/iran-world-cup-national-anthem-protest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9a1efaa007fcbc0/698a381f4ee26269d731adf1/iran-anthem-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: iran-anthem-world-cup og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Iran’s World Cup Team Stayed Silent During National Anthem twitter:description: In an apparent show of support for the ongoing protests, all 11 starting players stood silent while their anthem played. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9a1efaa007fcbc0/698a381f4ee26269d731adf1/iran-anthem-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Iran’s World Cup Team Remained Silent During Their National Anthem > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Astha Rajvanshi](https://time.com/author/astha-rajvanshi/)  ## Astha Rajvanshi Nov 21, 2022 4:05 PM UTC  Iranian players line up for the national anthem prior to the match between England and Iran on Nov. 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. Iranian players line up for the national anthem prior to the match between England and Iran on Nov. 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.Julian Finney—Getty Images  by [Astha Rajvanshi](https://time.com/author/astha-rajvanshi/)  ## Astha Rajvanshi Nov 21, 2022 4:05 PM UTC During the opening match against England at the FIFA World Cup on Monday, Iran’s national men’s soccer team chose not to sing their national anthem in an apparent show of support for the ongoing protests back home. All 11 starting players stood silent while the Iranian anthem played inside the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar. The nationwide protests against Iran’s clerical leaders, which were sparked by the alleged killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the country’s “[morality police](https://time.com/6230535/iran-morality-police-mahsa-amini-hijab/),” are now entering their third month. Since the protests began, 17,451 protesters have been detained and 426 have been killed, according to the latest figures by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, or [HRANA](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h5-7GfUpi3RHjwKCNCp-bhVpuiYtUEc4kjWRGW5ZM9Y/edit?usp=sharing). Many protesters speculated whether players representing IR Iran, or the Islamic Republic of Iran, would use the event as a platform to show solidarity with the movement. On Sunday, defender Ehsan Hajsafi, who plays for AEK Athens, was the first member to speak out in support of the protests. “We have to accept the conditions in our country are not right and our people are not happy,” Hajsafi said at a news conference. “We are here but it does not mean we should not be their voice or we should not respect them.” “They should know that we are with them,” he continued, referring to the protesters. “And we support them. And we sympathize with them regarding the conditions.” **Read More**: [_Thousands of Migrant Workers Died in Qatar’s Extreme Heat. The World Cup Forced a Reckoning_](https://time.com/6227277/qatar-extreme-heat-world-cup-2022/) Fans of the team in Qatar [told](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0dhp0pc) the _BBC_ they are there to support “real Iranian people,” and not the national team. They also planned to boo their national anthem, which they said did not represent “real Iranian people.” Other Iranian sporting teams have also expressed their support with acts of defiance, or by not signing the national anthem. These include an Iranian archer who removed her headscarf following a tournament in Tehran; Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, who competed without a headscarf in South Korea; and the national water polo team, which chose not to sing the national anthem at the Asian Water Polo Championships last week. [According](https://www.rferl.org/a/2237033.html) to state news agencies, Iran’s deputy sports minister Maryam Kazemipour said that some Iranian female athletes had acted against Islamic norms and apologized for their actions. And an Iranian cleric in the northwestern city of Urmia called for the punishment of athletes who refrain from singing the anthem, referring to the men’s water polo team, during Friday prayers. The Iranian regime has executed several athletes for expressing political dissent in the past. In 2020, Iran [executed](https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/12/iran-suddenly-executes-wrestler-navid-afkari) 27-year-old champion wrestler Navid Afkari after accusing the athlete of killing a security guard during anti-government protests in 2018 (a charge rejected by Afkari’s family). The execution drew widespread condemnation, including from the United States and the European Union. During the late 1980s, when Iran executed thousands of political prisoners, the captain of Iran’s women’s national volleyball team Foruzan Abdi was also arrested on charges of supporting the opposition group and sentenced to five years in prison. Abdi was not released after she completed her sentence, and in the summer of 1988, she was [hanged](https://www.iranrights.org/memorial/story/-3442/foruzan-abdi-pirbazari) in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Several Iranian female athletes have chosen to leave the country over the years. Just last year, Iranian female handball player Shaghayegh Bapiri defected to Spain. In 2020, Kimia Alizadeh, the only woman from Iran to win an Olympic medal, defected as well. And Soheila Farahani, a former Iranian national volleyball player, fled to California seven years ago after her sexuality came under scrutiny. “I felt if I don’t run from the country right now I would be put in jail or executed,” Farahani [told](https://time.com/6223412/iran-elnaz-rekabi-mahsa-amini-history/) TIME. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6235549/iran-world-cup-national-anthem-protest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6235549/iran-world-cup-national-anthem-protest/"},"headline":"Iran’s World Cup Team Remained Silent During Their National Anthem","datePublished":"2022-11-21T16:05:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T15:05:19.736Z","description":"In an apparent show of support for the ongoing protests back home, all 11 starting players stood silent while the Iranian anthem played inside the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar.","url":"https://time.com/6235549/iran-world-cup-national-anthem-protest/","keywords":["2022 world cup","Brief","Londontime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9a1efaa007fcbc0/698a381f4ee26269d731adf1/iran-anthem-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Astha Rajvanshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/astha-rajvanshi/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9a1efaa007fcbc0/698a381f4ee26269d731adf1/iran-anthem-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"iran-anthem-world-cup","caption":"Iran players line up for the national anthem prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and Iran at Khalifa International Stadium on Nov. 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.","creditText":"Julian Finney—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/2022-world-cup/","name":"2022 world cup"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6235549/iran-world-cup-national-anthem-protest/","name":"Iran’s World Cup Team Remained Silent During Their National Anthem"}}]}] ```