Team Melli’s Nowruz Gift, Team Melli Banovan’s Return, Comoros’ Fairytale
By Danial Golforoush
Team Melli’s Nowruz Gift: This Year’s Eidi Came Early
Much like those in many other developing countries, Iranians often look up to their athletes for a brighter day by making a statement on the international scene. In January, Iran’s men’s national football team (affectionately known as Team Melli) qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by defeating Iraq by one goal! In the first half, the Iraqi goalkeeper w
as holding down the fort and with every save it seemed like he was gaining more confidence! However, shortly into the second half, Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s long through pass slipped under the feet of the fumbling Iraqi defender and Mehdi Taremi, the leading scorer of Porto FC, calmly lobbed the ball over the diving goalkeeper. Taremi’s goal meant even a little more since he had just landed in Tehran twelve hours earlier from a long 4-day layover in Turkey from Portugal! Iran joins Germany, Denmark, Brazil, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Argentina, and host Qatar in becoming the 14th team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup!
Team Melli made history by qualifying for the third consecutive time. As the game ended, joyful Iranians, who are no stranger to economic and social hardships in the past decade, took to the streets and celebrated Team Melli’s victory and advancement to the tournament! This victorious night had other reasons for celebration as well since, for the first time in decades, Iranian women were allowed to attend a match in Azadi Stadium once again! The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran has long excluded women from purchasing tickets to attend matches across the country. However, after football fan Sahar Khodayari set herself on fire and died in protest more than 2 years ago, FIFA has played a more active role in ensuring that women can attend the games as well. Since then, attendance of Iranian women in the stadium has become more routine. This is not to say that the problems of the past are resolved; accessing tickets is still not as simple as they can be and women still are discouraged to attend these events. As football continues to be Iran’s favorite pastime, with such positive steps forward there ought not to be any turning back or stopping!
Team Melli Banovan’s Return: New Beginnings for Iranian Women
Team Melli is synonymous with joy, passion, pride, and sorrow at times! The Iranian women’s team (Team Melli Banovan) has often been neglected by the public due to lack of resources and exposure, but with its return to the biggest stage of the Asian football scene—the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022—the team has created a new momentum for women’s football across the country! Team Melli Banovan—led by Maryam Irandoost, a former professional football player and coach who is coaching the team once again—is fighting on and off the field.
While Team Melli (the men’s team) benefits from decades of structure, experience, and support in place, Team Melli Banovan continues to battle the domestic stigma of women playing the game and wearing hijab while doing so on an international scale. Although in 2007 and 2011 Team Melli Banovan competed and placed second in the West Asian Football Federation Women’s Championship, respectively, in 2011 they were banned by FIFA for wearing hijabs while playing the game, which led to Iran forfeiting their participation in the Summer Olympics the following year. Unfortunately, the ban was an “on brand” move from FIFA at that time since Sepp Blatter, then-president of FIFA, had made numerous comments on increasing the popularity of the women’s game by letting “the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts.” While the ban was lifted a year after its implementation, the negative influence on the game in Iran had already affected the set up and system in place for the national team. Team Melli Banovan continued to struggle to qualify for the AFC Women’s Asian Cups in 2014 and 2018. However, with the qualification for the current games, the Iranian women made history. Even though Team Melli Banovan has struggled in the competition so far, losing by 7 goals to China and 5 goals to Chinese Taipei, the goal for this tournament is to not only give the team experience playing in the highest of levels, but to demonstrate to girls and women across the country that becoming a professional and successful football player can be achieved by them as well!
Comoros’ Fairytale: No Goalkeeper for You
Comoros, an impoverished archipelago with a population of less than one million people located off Africa’s eastern coast, grabbed headlines as it qualified for the African Cup of Nations. This, despite having only joined the Confederation of African Football in 2003 and becoming a FIFA member in 2005. The start of Comoros’ AFCON campaign began with defeats to two of the heavyweights of the tournament in Gabon and Morocco. Moving on to the next round of the competition seemed impossible with Ghana next! But in the biggest turn of events in the history of the game, Comoros defeated Thomas Partey’s Ghana with an 85th winner from Ahmed Mogni! This victory was just enough to get them over the line to the last 16.
Comoros was facing the hosts Cameroon, a team filled with international superstars. Now celebrated as a giantkiller, Comoros’ chances were slim to none after it was announced that their starting goalkeeper was injured and his two understudies had tested positive for COVID-19. This meant that Comoros was forced to play an outfield player in the goal; something that is seen once in a blue moon when during a game there are no substitutions left and a goalkeeper receives a red card. This was an extra special occasion as the substitutes were sickened not during the match, but days before it. It is common practice to have a rule in place which allows teams to call up more players in special cases, but this was not in place at the AFCON. Comoros was never meant to make it this far and with the crisis at hand, they marched forward to defeat the odds one more time! However, this time the likely winner stepped up and Cameroon was the one to advance after a commanding 2 – 1 victory.
With Comoros making history and becoming another fairytale in the book of the game, the image of Alhadhur, the outfield player who played in the goal and made a number of strong saves, embodies what the game stands for—passion. The image is from the back of Alhadhur’s jersey who used tape to cover his number with the number 3. A true demonstration of Comoros’ very own hero’s journey with no stones unturned!
