On the Field, Off the Field: Why Iran's Athletes Can Never Escape Politics As Iran steps into the World Cup, a political shadow follows the team. The stories of defectors, the long fight to build women's football and dozens of athletes who fled show that in Iran, sport has never been just sport. Every World Cup brings stories of national pride, but for Iran the tournament arrives carrying something far heavier. For generations, professional sport in the country has lived where athletic ambition, personal identity and state politics collide. The journeys of its athletes, from defectors and activists to record-breaking champions, lay bare exactly how much is riding on this competition. On Tuesday morning Iran opened their campaign with a 2-2 draw against New Zealand. Their schedule next pits them against Belgium and Egypt, with trips to and from Mexico squeezed in between. A tournament some Iranians cannot bring themselves to watch "I think it's not fair," says Iranian athlete Hadi Tiranvalipour, referring to the team having to fly from Mexico into the United States before each match. This year, he admits, he is barely following the World Cup at all. The captain who walked away from everything Tiranvalipour, like several prominent Iranian athletes, knows all too well the contradiction of chasing his sporting dreams against the backdrop of the nation he once represented. In 2022 he left it all behind, his family, his friends and an entire life in Iran, crossing into Turkey before seeking asylum in Italy. The taekwondo athlete and TV presenter had spent eight years on the Iranian national team, even becoming its captain, winning countless national and international honours while representing his country. Everything changed after he spoke out on TV about the rights of Iranian people, especially women and girls. What came next, Tiranvalipour says, was a swift backlash: "After the program, they closed everything for me, and they closed my career in sports, they closed my education." "I decided to leave all the medals and all the memories I created in my life," he tells TrendKia Middle East about leaving Iran, though that was far from the end of his sporting journey. A difficult refugee road, and a dream in Paris Tiranvalipour had little choice but to chase his goals elsewhere, in what he describes as a "difficult" refugee journey lived through long stretches of uncertainty. "I didn't have any other solution, because I wanted to keep going about my targets," he says. "Unfortunately, in Iran, sport is so complicated." Two years after leaving, he achieved his dream, representing the Refugee Olympic Team with Italy's backing while competing in taekwondo at the 2024 Paris Olympics. How 1979 redrew the map of Iranian sport After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, state control reshaped Iran's sporting landscape dramatically. Women's teams were disbanded, female spectators were banned from watching men's sports, and stadiums were placed under Revolutionary Guard control. In 1993, the Supreme Leader reportedly ruled that professional athletes were required to bring pride and honour to the nation, spelling out a role for athletes that went beyond individual achievement to deliver national glory to Iran. Iranian athletes have faced intense scrutiny throughout the Islamic Republic's rule, and the tightening of the rules carried consequences. Accounts of athletes defecting and seeking asylum date back to at least 1982, with international events often framing such high-profile moments. The picture shifted again after the landmark 1997 victory of reformist president Mohammad Khatami, who was more open to sports diplomacy. Reports even acknowledge that for a brief period women's rights movements gained momentum during his presidency. Building women's football against every obstacle Khosrowyar spoke on TV about how important it was for women to play soccer and helped persuade the authorities to allow a national team to be formed, a team she was also scouted for. She has since become an influential voice and advocate for Iranian women's sport, first as a player and then as a coach. Beyond the matches, though, the road was long. "We never really got the attention or the focus," she says of women's soccer. "It was always jumping over hurdles, continuously pushing boundaries, and trying to convince men that we deserve a fighting chance to be here as well." For Khosrowyar, sport meant moving between two worlds. Comparing the US and Iran, she tells TrendKia Middle East: "There couldn't be any two more polar opposite countries in terms of women's soccer. In the US, you have the foundation, you have the coaches, you don't have to fight for training on a field, you don't have to debate whether my sleeve needs to be an inch longer or shorter or if my hijab has to cover my eyebrows or not." Then, at the soccer tryouts, something unprecedented happened. Khosrowyar says 25,000 people turned up, a sign of an unstoppable hunger for women's involvement in Iranian sport. "We got the support needed to kick-start [the] women's national team and then the youth national team," she says. "It took me two years to get girls who'd never worn soccer cleats to world-class players." "When you become a national team athlete for any team around the world, you are going to be looked at," Khosrowyar says. "Every word you say, you will be accountable for." As an American Iranian, she says, she was "walking a very thin" line because of the political tensions between the two countries. "My goal has always been to bring my two sides together, even though they were literally at war with each other," she says. "You have to be very cognizant of what you say in order to always keep the focus on the development of women's soccer." When protest spills onto the field The fragile sporting spaces that people like Khosrowyar had fought so hard to build were also tested in moments of rising tension. The 2022 Women, Life, Freedom movement, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, pushed women's rights firmly into the spotlight and thrust athletes into an even more prominent public role. When climber Elnaz Rekabi went on to compete without a hijab at Seoul's Asian Sports Climbing Championships that October, it was seen as a striking act of defiance against the country's regime. The numbers behind the exodus Sean Sadri, associate professor of sports media at the University of Alabama who has produced several reports on the subject, explains that dozens of elite athletes have emigrated from Iran because of domestic pressures and fears, either changing nationality or competing under refugee status, as sport grows more popular and politicians get more involved. According to his research, at least 69 elite athletes emigrated from Iran between 1979 and 2024. Sporting events and international training cycles have at times become channels for such moments of political rupture, as with Alizadeh, who chose to remain in Europe in 2020, citing political pressure. Iran's only female Olympic medallist, Kimia Alizadeh, had left the country in 2020. There was also chess champion Alireza Firouzja, who left in 2019, and swimmer Saman Soltani, who was forced not to return after warnings from Iran's morality police. Taekwondo athlete Kasra Mehdipournejad likewise decided not to go home, instead carrying the flag for the Refugee Team at the European Games, while Olympic judoka Javad Mahjou defected before the 2020 Olympics. The list goes on: canoeist Saeid Fazloula fled in 2015 and, like many others, went on to compete with the Refugee Olympic Team, one of the few paths open to those who leave Iran. "We don't have another solution," says Tiranvalipour. "For us, it's too difficult to leave our country. So if we [can], we'll take this opportunity." Asylum, second thoughts and a "heroes' welcome" Leaving Iran and building a life abroad comes with enormous personal cost. "In terms of defection in the world of football, I have not seen that many," says Khosrowyar. "Most of my players and my teammates are still there … Iranians are very close to their families." Headlines around Iran's women's soccer team earlier this year underline that complexity. In March 2026, during the Asian Cup in Australia, several players were granted asylum during the tournament after facing criticism for not singing the national anthem. But only two of them eventually chose to stay, with several dropping their asylum bids and reportedly returning to a "heroes' welcome." Sanctions, war and bombed-out arenas What experts call "muscle drain" is tied not only to politics but also to opportunity and to the development of the country's economy and cultural sectors. Sanctions on Iran, for instance, have held back the growth of sporting infrastructure, a problem made worse by the recent war. Local reports say at least 200 sports facilities have been bombed by the US, including the complete levelling of the 12,000-seat Azadi indoor sports arena. Determined to keep playing International sporting competitions are often framed by politics, yet many see them as more than that, a moment of pride, of cultural meaning, of resilience and hope. Khosrowyar speaks regularly with her teammates back in Iran, who she says are now more determined than ever to keep playing. "I've seen the girls actually pull it together more so than usual," she says, describing how her players are pressing ahead, focused on the Asian Games, the Olympics and the World Cup. "There's war, but we're still going to train; nothing is stopping them." Tiranvalipour puts it simply: "A sport should bring peace for the people, this is the most important thing." What this means for you What this means for you: • If you are following the World Cup, Iran's matches come with a political backdrop, and the team is forced to fly between Mexico and the United States for each game. • For sports fans and athletes, the story shows how sanctions, war and state control have pushed dozens of Iran's best talents abroad, reshaping who competes under which flag. Questions & Answers 1. How did Iran perform in their opening World Cup match? Iran drew 2-2 against New Zealand on Tuesday morning and will next face Belgium and Egypt. 2. Why did Hadi Tiranvalipour leave Iran? After speaking on TV about the rights of Iranian people, especially women and girls, he says his sports career and education were shut down, so in 2022 he crossed into Turkey and later sought asylum in Italy. 3. How many elite athletes have left Iran? According to research by Sean Sadri, at least 69 elite athletes emigrated from Iran between 1979 and 2024. 4. What happened to Iran's women's soccer players at the 2026 Asian Cup? In March 2026 in Australia several were granted asylum after criticism for not singing the anthem, but only two ultimately stayed, with others dropping their bids and reportedly returning to a "heroes' welcome." https://trendkia.com/en/sports/maidana-para-irana-jahan-khela-aura-siyasata-ko-alaga-karana-namumakina-hai-1514 TrendKia — Har trend, sabse pehle.