The president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world’s largest global soccer organization, issued a message of condolence on Monday following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and several other top Iranian officials died on Sunday after a helicopter carrying them back from Azerbaijan crashed in inclement weather. Raisi had served as second-in-command to “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since 2021, presiding over a violent crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents and women’s rights activists that the U.N. estimates killed over 550 people.
Among the many human rights violations attributable to Raisi’s time in office was the repression of woman soccer fans, for decades banned from attending soccer games but allowed more recently to attend in small numbers, isolated in stadiums from the men. The issue had been a significant point of contention with FIFA, which maximizes its profits by attracting as many sports aficionados as possible to its games.
In a temporary “story” post on Instagram, FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed “great sadness” at Raisi’s death.
“We had met last year in New York and discussed how to promote football in IR [Islamic Republic of] Iran,” Infantino recalled. “I send my sincere condolences to the people of the IR Iran at this difficult time.”
While Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours, Iranian state media outlets saved images of the post and shared them widely.
Iran participates in FIFA through its national soccer federation, the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI). Infantino met with Raisi in September as part of a larger meeting with FFIRI officials.
According to FIFA’s press statement on the meeting at the time – which took place in New York during the United Nations’ General Assembly annual debate – Infantino met with Raisi and his entourage in an attempt to convince Tehran to stop oppressing women soccer fans.
“Discussions cent[e]red around the topic of women’s football and the presence of women in football stadiums in the country,” FIFA narrated, “with Mr Infantino thanking the President for the progress made so far, and encouraging the nation to continue to do more.”
FIFA noted that Iran, under Raisi’s “moderate” predecessor Hassan Rouhani, had allowed women into Tehran’s Azadi stadium in limited numbers to watch a soccer match, “the first time in 40 years” such an event had occurred. Iran had issued similar small-scale permissions for women to attend soccer games, but access to the sport remains extremely limited for women.
“Over the past four decades, Iranian authorities have banned girls and women from watching football and other sports in stadiums,” Human Rights Watch explained in December. “While this ban is not a law, authorities regularly enforced it, claiming lack of proper infrastructure to segregate men and women. The ban has led to arrests, beatings, detention, and abuses against women and adolescent girls.”
Human Rights Watch recalled a 2019 incident in which a female soccer fan self-immolated after being arrested and sentenced to prison for trying to attend a soccer game. Some women soccer fans have also snuck into games wearing fake beards and pretending to be men.
During his meeting with Raisi, Infantino “praised IR Iran’s recent progress in women’s football” and expressed an interest in visiting Iran.
“I have already said I will visit IR Iran in the near future to discuss football-related matters, and I confirmed that desire to President Raisi,” Infantino said, according to FIFA. “IR Iran is a significant force in Asian football, and it is important for me to ensure we continue to nurture the positive and fruitful working relationship we have built.”
FIFA has a long history of disregarding the human rights violations of participating countries but faced the loudest criticism worldwide for its decision to allow Qatar, a repressive Islamist emirate, to host the 2022 World Cup. Years of human rights investigations revealed that slavery and abusive working conditions were rampant in the construction of the facilities for the event, prompting complaints from Qatari officials that their country was facing racism. Ultimately, Qatari officials admitted to at least 500 deaths associated with the construction of World Cup venues.
The Qatar World Cup also prompted concerns for LGBT soccer fans, as the Islamist state violently represses suspected gay people. During the event, security officials were quick to attack fans seen with imagery featuring suspected LGBT symbols, leading to an incident in which officers mistakenly trampled the flag of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco because it features a rainbow on it.
Infantino fiercely defended Qatar from its critics, declaring that Europeans should “be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before giving moral lessons” to Islamists.
“Of course I am not Qatari, Arab, African, gay, disabled or a migrant worker. But I feel like them because I know what it means to be discriminated and bullied as a foreigner in a foreign country,” Infantino declared in statements defending the Qatar World Cup. “Today I have strong feelings. Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled, I feel a migrant worker.”
In November, Saudi Arabia received official hosting duties for the 2034 World Cup.
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