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‘Who are we cheering for?’ Iranian Americans face their most complicated World Cup
The crest is red, white and green â the colors of the Iranian flag. Nader Adeli, the 65-year-old captain of Arya Football Club, holds up the jersey and laughs: âWe are Iranian! We are Aryan, alright?â
All 11 Arya FC players on the field are Iranian or Iranian American.
It is a Wednesday evening in Moorpark, in the San Fernando Valley, and a friendly game against another local recreational league team is about to kick off.
Less than 50 miles away at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, renamed Los Angeles stadium for the duration of the World Cup, Iranâs national team on Monday will play their first match under unprecedented circumstances.
Fans defy FIFA ban to bring pre-revolutionary Iran flags into World Cup game
The Athletic witnessed more than one pre-revolutionary Iranian flag being unfurled during the World Cup match between Qatar and Switzerland in Santa Clara, Calif. Emilee Chinn / Getty Images
The Athletic has live coverage of Germany vs Curacao in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
World Cup fans at Levi’s Stadium managed to bring in pre-revolutionary Iran flags, despite FIFA banning their presence at the tournament.
During the first half of Saturday’s game between Qatar and Switzerland, The Athletic witnessed supporters unfurling multiple pre-revolutionary Iran flags — the country’s official flag until the revolution of 1979.
Both flags have green, white and red bands (in descending order), but where the newer flag has an Islamic symbol in the centre, the pre-revolutionary flag has a yellow lion and sun. The newer flag also contains Arabic lettering at the top and bottom of the red and green bands respectively, with the new flag representing Iran’s shift from a monarchy to a theocracy post-revolution.
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World Cup 2026: The flag Iranians are not allowed to wave at stadiums
The flag of the pre-1979 Islamic revolution, featuring a lion and a sun, is banned from stadiums at the World Cup
"The Iranian team is not playing. The Islamic Republic's team is."
Before Iran has kicked a ball in Los Angeles, the team's presence at this World Cup – being hosted across North America – is already fraught.
Even the issue of flags displayed inside stadiums has become an issue of intense debate, after Fifa prohibited fans from flying a certain banner that it deems to be too political.
Farahanipour, an Iranian-American activist and chief executive of the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, fled Iran in 2000 after years of political activism.
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