Idman.biz
Former Iranian national team defender Mohammad Taghavi spoke about the constant pressure on the country's women's national team against the backdrop of a scandal involving national team players.
Idman.Biz recalls that on March 9, it was reported that five players of the Iranian women's national team fled the team's camp after being removed from the Asian Cup held in Australia.
"The regime's strategy worked in two directions. If you were a well-known player, there was never any pressure. You were given advantages like money, favorable conditions for buying land... These were bribes.
If you were less well-known, they would say, "we will put you in jail, we will not let you play football, we will kill your family." There has always been this kind of pressure on the women's team.
They would also try to recruit a player from within the team. They would pay her to tell them what the players were saying, what was happening in the team, and to inform them of any plans," Taghavi told the New York Times.
Earlier, Iranian state television host Mohammad Reza Shahbazi criticized the women's soccer players for not performing the national anthem in one of their games, noting that "traitors should be treated more harshly in times of war." After these events, FIFPro appealed to FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to ensure the safety of women's soccer players.
