Pressure by Iranian authorities on women footballers has intensified following resignations from the national team in protest at the quashing of nationwide protests with deadly force, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.
Security forces have used threats against players’ families and relatives, contract deductions and exclusion from team training to silence top-league players, sources said.
Authorities have also sought to pressure athletes by offering inducements to some individuals to monitor their teammates, while female players have been threatened with judicial action and long prison sentences if they express support for the protests, the sources added.
Football federation officials have meanwhile warned players that reacting publicly to the killings could result in multi-year bans from professional football activity, according to the sources.
The measures are aimed at preventing women footballers from expressing solidarity with the protests or participating in related commemorations, the sources said.
The pressure campaign follows the resignations of two players from Iran’s women’s national football team — Zahra Alizadeh and Kosar Kamali — in protest at the crackdown on nationwide protests in early January which left at least 36,500 dead.
Alizadeh, a national team player who competes for top-flight club Gol Gohar Sirjan, was the first athlete to step down from the squad. Kamali, a player for Ista, later announced her withdrawal from the national team in a social media post.
Niloufar Mirkarimi, a futsal referee operating under Iran’s football federation, also resigned from officiating, widening the protest beyond players to officials within the sport.
Posts announcing the resignations of Alizadeh and Kamali were removed from their Instagram pages hours after publication, according to people familiar with the matter.
Any protest-related posts or social media stories published by players have faced immediate security repercussions, the sources added.
