Iran

Sports and policy | Iran and the World Cup carrot

By John Turnbull ⋅ 15 December 2005
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Zurich | FIFA stanched cries from German Green Party politicians to oust Iran from the World Cup finals following Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s public denial of the Holocaust Wednesday in the southeastern city of Zahedan, Iran. Spokesman Andreas Herren said, “FIFA strictly separates sports from politics.” Ahmadinejad had earlier made anti-Israel comments, and while Green politicians such as Angelika Beer said the latest absurdities justified FIFA’s ultimate sanction, German commentators were not so sure. In a Deutsche Welle survey of the German media reaction, Sí¼ddeutsche Zeitung writes, “E]xcluding Iran from the World Cup would be like a national tragedy,” predicting dire consequences for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. “The Olympic boycotts in Moscow and Los Angeles showed diplomacy is helpless when it applies the thumbscrews where they will politically and economically hurt the least,” adds Leipziger Volkszeitung.

Proposals to exclude Iraq, based on Ahmadinejad’s extremism, actually began before the World Cup draw on Dec 9. Cologne club president and 1974 World Cup gold medalist Wolfgang Overath based his protests regarding Iran’s place on the Iranian president’s suggestions that Israel relocate to Europe. Yet Siavush Randjbar-Daemi, a freelancer for Italian daily Il Messaggero and poster on Web log Iranian Truth, also feels that excluding Iran would be “overkill.” “Much is said about the average Tehran teenager’s lust for pop music, holding his girlfriend’s hand in public places and partying,” Randjbar-Daemi writes. “But he is also an avid football fan. Banning [Iran] from Germany 2006 would be no less of an insult to him than seeing his Pink Floyd cut off by that same West.”

Tags: 2006 FIFA World Cup, Middle East