Four Iranian Soccer Players Fired

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Iranian Authorities Fire Players Who Wore Green Wristbands

June 23

According to press reports coming out of Iran, four of six Iranian international soccer players who wore green wrist bands during their game in South Korea last week have been dismissed from the team.

Ali-Karimi-during-Irans-W-001 An official Iranian newspaper has now reported that four players have had their international careers terminated.

The players were among six members of Iran’s team who took part in a World Cup qualifier last week and stunned spectators by wearing green wristbands during the first half, showing their support for Iran’s reformist camp led by Mir Hossein Mousavi. Iranian bloggers surmised later that Ali Abadi, chairman of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI), who is close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had telephoned Seoul at half time and instructed the players to remove the green wristbands immediately. Some of the players, however, did not obey, and it seems to have been them that have been targeted.

The wrist bands were a sign of solidarity with supporters of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who is widely thought to have won their recent general election, despite incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s claim to have won a a landslide.

Opposition supporters have been demonstrating throughout Iran since the announcement, and about 20 people are believed to have died in the protests. Iranian authorities have been working assiduously to prevent news coming out of the country, but tech savvy youngsters have been using such messaging software as twittering and cel phones to keep the rest of the world aware of the violent crackdown.

Team captain Mohammed Ali Karimi (pictured above) who plays for Persopolis in Iran’s Pro League was among the players showing solidarity. Whether the authorities will stop at firing them from international duty remains unclear. According to today’s Iranian report he is among the four players who have been forced off the national team. The decision made in respect to the two other players who wore the wristband is unclear at this time.

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