Iranian soccer player Alireza Jahanbakhsh said on Thursday that the focus of the team at the World Cup in Qatar was resolutely on the competition and not on political issues related to the nationwide protests in his country.
Several Iranian sportsmen and women have used international competition to indicate their support for the protests that have rocked the country since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police in September.
"I assume you are probably part of the English media and I'm going to start with this: Like every one of you know, we are here for our duty and our duty is to play football," he told reporters at the team's training camp. "If you asked this question outside my duty for Team Melli, I would have answered the question with the details for you," added the winger, who played in England for three years with Brighton and Hove Albion.
"At the end of the day, when football comes together, we can make joy, we can bring happiness to the people." "It's easy to play the mental game, ask questions about what's going on here, there or whatever," Jahanbakhsh said.
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