The Islamic Republic of Iran has had enough chances. It must be stripped of its right to attend soccer’s 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Blatantly rejecting FIFA requirements to the contrary, Iran blocked ticket-holding female supporters from attending its World Cup qualifying match against Lebanon on Tuesday. Iran won that game 2-0, thus securing a spot in the World Cup in November. But the scenes in Tehran testify to the intrinsic immorality of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime. As many as 2,000 female ticket holders attempting to access the stadium instead found themselves tear-gassed. In a telling act of utter mathematical incontinence, the Iranian football authority claimed that only nine, rather than 2,000, women had tickets for the game.
The Washington Examiner requested FIFA’s comment as to whether it would consider Iran’s expulsion from the World Cup. The international soccer governing body did not respond. But its cause for action is clear.
After all, Iran has previously been warned by FIFA that its restrictions on female spectators are unacceptable. In 2019, President Gianni Infantino explained that FIFA’s “position is clear and firm. Women have to be allowed into football stadiums in Iran.”
FIFA must now take a stand for what is right. The organization is widely, and justifiably, regarded as a cesspool of greed, cronyism, and unaccountable leadership. As Ian Holloway so eloquently outlined, the ludicrous awarding of the World Cup to Qatar is proof of as much. Only FIFA can act here. Qatar has made clear its sympathy for Iran, even welcoming the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s attendance at an arms show last week. Indeed, Qatar shares Iran’s affinity for human rights: Its World Cup stadiums were built with slave labor.
So what will Infantino do now?
Will he impose the necessary costs on Iran for its repeated breach of explicit FIFA rules and restrict it from participating in the World Cup? Or will Infantino prove that FIFA’s pledge to “govern and lead” on women’s issues is paper thin?
The stakes for FIFA’s legitimacy are great. It must do the right thing. Iran must be expelled from the tournament.
P.S.: In case you missed the link, here’s Holloway’s genius assessment of the Qatar World Cup.
