Iran players put an end to silent protest at FIFA World Cup 2022 amid fears of reprisals

The Iran men's football team on Friday sung the national anthem in their FIFA World Cup match against Wales after refusing to do so in their opening game against England earlier this week. In light of widespread protests in their nation over the contentious hijab laws that many believe to be discriminatory against women, Iranian players had declined to sing the national anthem against England on Monday.

However, the Iranian players completely backflipped when they came out for the pre-match ceremony at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on Friday during their match against Wales. They were seen singing the national anthem, which they had earlier decided to boycott in a show to solidarity for anti-hijab protesters in their country. 

Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests against hijab laws ever since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody for reportedly wearing her headscarf 'inappropriately'. With the protests going on in the country for the past two months, Iran football team captain Ehsan Hajsafi had also commented on the same during a news conference before their game against England on Monday.

"My condolences to all the mourning families in Iran … we stand with them and share their pain … we must accept that conditions in our country are not right and our people are not happy. My people are sad and our presence here does not mean that we cannot be a voice for them or should not respect them,” he said.

“We owe our lives to our people and we are here to work hard, fight, show our best performance and score goals, and present them to the bereaved Iranian people … I hope that things will improve and everyone will be happy," explained Hajsafi.

Iran vs Wales: As it happened

As far as the match is concerned, Iran won the game 2-0 courtesy of goals from Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian. Both goals came in the stoppage time. This is the first time that Wales conceded more than one goal in a World Cup match. Iran will now face the USA in their last group-stage match, while Wales will go up against England. 

Image: Twitter