When Victory Feels Hollow

Qualifying for the World Cup should be a moment of immense pride for a nation. It is the culmination of countless hours of physical and mental training, sustained focus, and enormous financial investment, all finally rewarded with an achievement meant to be remembered for generations. Yet for Iranian football supporters, this was not the case.

Iran’s internal political turmoil has led fans of Team Melli, the nickname of the national team, to respond coldly when FIFA officially confirmed Iran’s qualification for the 2026 World Cup some time ago. There were no words of praise, no euphoria, and certainly no celebratory parades in the streets to welcome the success of the only Asian team that performed so consistently throughout the Asian qualifying rounds. This was despite Iran collecting an almost perfect total of 23 points and suffering just one defeat in 16 qualification matches.

This domestic unrest is also one of the reasons the United States, one of the host nations of the 2026 World Cup, imposed an entry ban on Iranian citizens for the duration of the tournament, with exceptions only for players, coaching staff, and officials. The ban does not apply to members of the Iranian diaspora who have long resided in the United States or Canada, meaning Team Melli will still be able to play in front of some of their supporters during the 2026 World Cup.

Illustration: a restaurant in Malang District, where an ancient water spring lies 

Tracing the Roots of the Problem

Centuries before being shaken by what seems like an endless wave of crises since 2022, Iran was in fact one of the world’s oldest centers of civilization. The meeting of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers created a valley that was not only vast but fertile, capable of sustaining successive ancient civilizations that rose and fell over time, from the Sumerians, Assyrians, Akkadians, and Babylonians to the Parthians, Sasanians and Persians, spanning roughly from 10,000 BCE to 539 BCE.

These peoples were initially nomadic tribes who roamed the Euphrates–Tigris region as herders. They competed with one another to become the strongest, seeking to unite all tribes under the leadership of the victor. Various strategies were used, including forming alliances to overthrow rival powers, such as the Persians aligning against the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Interestingly, all of these rival civilizations in ancient Iran once shared a common belief system known as Ancient Iranian Religion, which in many respects closely resembled the Vedic religion of India. However, because leaders of this ancient belief reportedly used intoxicating substances during religious rituals, combined with widespread corruption among religious elites of the time, a rebellion emerged under the leadership of Zoroaster around the 10th century BCE. He founded a new religion, Zoroastrianism, which gradually displaced the earlier belief system. This, at least, is the prevailing assumption among historians.

Stopping the Repeated History

The refusal of many Iranians today to support their national football team echoes a much older pattern, one that resembles the moment when young followers of Zoroastrianism rejected the authority of the ancient Iranian religious elites. Due to the loss of historical records from that era, scholars can only speculate about the exact event that drove ancient Persians to abandon their original faith. Still, the repetition of painful moments across history can be seen as a reminder that something has gone wrong in the path chosen. Like a problem in one organ of the body that spreads and develops into tumors, cancer, or other chronic diseases, unresolved issues tend to worsen over time.

Human civilization after Mesopotamia has continually struggled to find stable ground, striving to ensure that positive outcomes emerge from hard work, that effort leads to fulfillment and light rather than disillusionment. This has been a universal human goal across all eras, a goal that connects people of the past, present, and future together. A goal that, perhaps, can finally prevent dark chapters of history from repeating themselves again and again. (dswas)