Arshin Adib-Moghaddam Professor in global thought and comparative philosophies at SOAS, University of London
I was educated to analyse how politics is behind everything. Yet, as a former footballer (and tennis player), I know that sports transcends the profanity of politics. No sports team have the interest, much less the ability to affect the gruelling mechanisms of power. In football, in those 90 minutes or so, there exists a positive spirit of sportsmanship, something that Iranians would call “javanmardi” (or “khanoumi” for that matter). That is something one rarely encounters in the polluted and sinister realm of political competition. In those 90 minutes, the rules of engagement are clear. There is a referee, things are equal, fair, true. There is no Caesar who can decide about life and death. Footballers may be gladiators, but they are not warriors. Football is nothing like war by other means. There is a sensuousness about the game and a pronounced life-affirming beauty. David can win against Goliath without staring into the barrel of a gun, unless one uses that analogy for the inimitable power of Robert Carlos’s free kicks when Brazil won the World Cup in 2002.
In fact, World Cups are great cultural meeting points; fantastic carnivals of life and humanity, where tolerance is tested and differences are mitigated. They are a playing field for the way politics should operate as there is purity in this competition, an innocence that provokes sportsmanship and a sense of global community, certainly on the pitch. While it is important to adhere to basic principles of humanity and universal human rights, I wouldn’t relegate football to the nefarious realm of day-to-day politics or ideology.
So I celebrate the inclusive plurality of the German and English team, which is a reflection of the beautifully diverse mosaic that composes contemporary German and British society. I adore Argentina ever since as a child, I was mesmerised by the magic of the late great Diego Armando Maradona. I hope they go all the way and that Lionel Messi lifts the World Cup in honour of Diego’s legacy, as the team did when Argentina won South America’s Copa America in 2021.
And yes, I fully support the Iranian national team. I am in awe of their mental strength after their deserved 2:0 win against Wales. As the former captain of the English national team, Gary Lineker rightly noted: The Iranian team plays under incredible mental duress, which explains their beautifully emotional celebration when they scored against Wales. As in Argentina in 1978, when Argentinians rallied behind their national team led by Daniel Passarella and Mario Kempes because of its quality and not because of politics, whereby winning the World Cup gave them a moment of bliss during a period of agony, none of those spirited Iranian players can be blamed for anything happening in Iranian politics. It truly has nothing to do with what they stand for. It seems self-defeating, even vindictive, to call for a boycott of these young lads, who are fighting for glory against all odds. While it is important to adhere to basic principles of humanity, we shouldn’t relegate football to the nefarious realm of ideology. Football is not politics. It is not psycho-nationalism, it doesn’t stand for exclusion, ideology, enmity. For the sake of the beautiful game, let’s keep it that way.
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