A legend retired

[foxer]

Not sure where this should be posted or if its already been done but.....

The Iranian soccer players who wore green in support of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have been banned for life.

According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players – Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 – have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul.

They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands in the color of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, which has been adopted by demonstrators who believe the 12 June election was stolen.

Most of the players obeyed instructions to remove the armwear at half-time, but Mahdavikia wore his green captain's armband for the entire match. The four are also said to have been banned from giving media interviews.

The fate of the other two players who wore the wristbands is unknown. None of the team members were given back their passports upon returning to Tehran after the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw – a result that ended Iran's hopes of qualifying for next year's tournament.

Karimi is one of Iranian football's best-known stars, having played for the German club Bayern Munich. Ka'abi played for Leicester City for several months during the 2007/8 season. Hashemian and Mahdavikia play for the German teams Bochum and Eintracht Frankfurt.

http://www.faniq.com/article/Iranian-socce...or-life-1722168

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...ad-protest.html

I definitely didnt mean to put it in transfer talk...

[Leicesterboi]

Seems like Kaebi has been stitched up! All the other players are in their 30's and about ready to wind down their careers, poor old Hossein is only 24!

I dont understand how they can 'retire' them though? Is this from the national team only?

[foxer]

Seems like Kaebi has been stitched up! All the other players are in their 30's and about ready to wind down their careers, poor old Hossein is only 24!

I dont understand how they can 'retire' them though? Is this from the national team only?

Yeah, they can do pretty much anything they like out there though at the moment. Must just be from the national team. Hopefully if the country gets itself sorted they'll be allowed to play again.

Feel sorry for the guy really!

[General Smuts]

When i heard this on the radio this morning i knew he'd be involved

[Matt]

[Ajax Treesdown]

Fair play to them

[ozleicester]

Is it ironic that the first i heard about Kaebi being involved in this, was on you tube?

Good luck to the young man, enormous respect for anyone who risks their life and future to stand up for what they believe to be right.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

[lavrentis]

He's just blown away his international career. Complete idiot.

[Jon the Hat]

He's just blown away his international career. Complete idiot.

Myabe he thinks the freedom of his country folk to choose their destiny is a little more important than playing football. Idiot.

[lavrentis]

Myabe he thinks the freedom of his country folk to choose their destiny is a litle more important that playing football. Idiot.

Well he's free to join the protests. But why risk your international career, just leave football to football.

[MarkDeVries]

Well he's free to join the protests. But why risk your international career, just leave football to football.

But football is viewed by thousands looking at 22 players at most, so he is able to show what he supports/disagrees with to most of the country. If he was in a protest he wouldn't be seen with thousands of people there surely?

[lavrentis]

But football is viewed by thousands looking at 22 players at most, so he is able to show what he supports/disagrees with to most of the country. If he was in a protest he wouldn't be seen with thousands of people there surely?

Don't get me wrong, I think that his retirement is incredibly harsh but I just don't like the idea of mixing politics and football together. Especially in Iran in the state it is in. That is all.

Maybe before in the thread I was too brash, in saying it was his own fault and calling him an idiot but maybe there is a time and a place to show his opinion. I doubt in this country you would get many footballers speaking out on their political opinion.

[Guest Bilo]

Is it ironic that the first i heard about Kaebi being involved in this, was on you tube?

Good luck to the young man, enormous respect for anyone who risks their life and future to stand up for what they believe to be right.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

This.

You have to wonder how many European football players of the same age would have the similar strength in their own convictions to risk not only their career in the game, but also their liberty and possibly their lives. Nothing but respect for Kaebi for doing this, and he can hold his head high.

In terms of the Iranian government's decision to ban the players, I think the Times got it absolutely spot on this morning.

Kick them into touch

Fifa should ban Iran's football team until its Government stops meddling

Iran's repressive mullahs misunderstand the point of sport. The Iranian people - for whom football is a second religion, worshipped in a 120,000-seater national stadium - do not. The Government's clumsy treatment of the national football team may yet prove to inflame the rebellion against Iran's rulers every bit as as fiercely as has the clergy's rigged election and the savagery with which they have sought to quell protests.

At least four players in Iran's national football team have reportedly been banned for life from playing for their national side. Their crime? They took to the pitch in Seoul last week for a World Cup qualifier against South Korea wearing wristbands - wristbands - in the emerald green that has become a badge of solidarity with the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Just as the apparent murder last weekend of the student Neda Soltan lent a human face to the uprising in Iran, the controversy generated by the sportsmen's gesture of defiance has paraded Iran's turmoil to football fans across the world.

By stopping the footballers representing their country, Iran has worsened the prospects of an already faltering national team. Fifa, football's world governing body, banned Iran from international competition in 2006 after claims of improper interference by Tehran's rulers. That ban, later lifted, should now be reimposed until Iran learns to keep politics off the football pitch.

President Ahmadinejad, blamed for the sacking this year of the national football team coach, has become addicted to backroom fixing - from elections to football. A president who runs scared of a green wristband is not fit to run a football team, let alone a country.

[James.]

I doubt in this country you would get many footballers speaking out on their political opinion.

The political situation in this country is very different to Iran though, you can't really compare the two. Not to mention the fact footballers over here probably haven't got a fucking clue about UK politics.

[Father Ted]

Imo I would have done the same.

[lavrentis]

The political situation in this country is very different to Iran though, you can't really compare the two. Not to mention the fact footballers over here probably haven't got a fucking clue about UK politics.

Yeah your probably right.

[Guest Bilo]

Seems like Kaebi has been stitched up! All the other players are in their 30's and about ready to wind down their careers, poor old Hossein is only 24!

I dont understand how they can 'retire' them though? Is this from the national team only?

He now plays for a team in Iran called Saipa, owned by a car manufacturer of the same name and that in turn is owned largely by the Iranian government. In other words, if the government has influenced the Iranian FA to ban him from the squad then they have the power to do the same with his club team as well. It certainly looks as though the other players to play their football in the country have been forced into full retirement.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/2...all-protest-ban

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

I don't give a shit what people say, that slide on Figo, and the "good effort but no dice" pat on the head, class.

[Guest Bilo]

I don't give a shit what people say, that slide on Figo, and the "good effort but no dice" pat on the head, class.

That was pretty damned awesome but the way he went through Ronaldo in the same game was verging on orgasmic.

[The Doctor]

He now plays for a team in Iran called Saipa, owned by a car manufacturer of the same name and that in turn is owned largely by the Iranian government. In other words, if the government has influenced the Iranian FA to ban him from the squad then they have the power to do the same with his club team as well. It certainly looks as though the other players to play their football in the country have been forced into full retirement.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/2...all-protest-ban

Surely if he moves abroad though he could continue to play. after all if he moves abroad then surely he is protected from the iranian governments interference because he would no longer be an iranian citizen and only the government of the country he moves to would be able to interfere with his career,

also surely the four players are protected by UN rules.

[Guest Bilo]

Surely if he moves abroad though he could continue to play. after all if he moves abroad then surely he is protected from the iranian governments interference because he would no longer be an iranian citizen and only the government of the country he moves to would be able to interfere with his career,

also surely the four players are protected by UN rules.

There are reports that the government has seized their passports to prevent them from leaving the country. It sounds as though they're making sure the decision taken to wear the wristbands costs him his career altogether.

[MPH]

Don't get me wrong, I think that his retirement is incredibly harsh but I just don't like the idea of mixing politics and football together. Especially in Iran in the state it is in. That is all.

Maybe before in the thread I was too brash, in saying it was his own fault and calling him an idiot but maybe there is a time and a place to show his opinion. I doubt in this country you would get many footballers speaking out on their political opinion.

the voice of millions are being denied the freedom of speech by the Iranian governments unlawful arrest and expelling of dozens and dozens of reporters. International eyes are on international games and i applaud the silent protest of these players.

[Ultra]

It's hardly new though. Similar crackdowns have been taking place during the last 30 years.

And why are Iran, among others, allowed to ban women from attending matches?

[Guest Bilo]

It's hardly new though. Similar crackdowns have been taking place during the last 30 years.

And why are Iran, among others, allowed to ban women from attending matches?

Pretty much indicative of the policies towards women in Iran as a whole to be honest.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates...nation-20070823

[haraven]

Probably not all that easy for him to get out of the country if they have his passport. Best of luck to him and for those who want Democracy, especially civil and equal rights for women which is not given in Iran.