Jafar Panahi is a reknowned Iranian filmmaker who chooses to deal with controversial topics in his work. His movies (Crimson Gold, The Circle, among others) have been heralded abroad and banned at home. In many ways, then, it’s incredible that Jafar Panahi was able to make his latest movie, Offside, about women trying to sneak into an Iranian stadium to watch a soccer match.

Panahi knew that taking on the subject of female football fans in Iran would be controversial, and so tried to make his movie quietly so as to avoid the censors. In an interview, he described how even his best attempts to avoid notice were ultimately unsuccessful.

We tried to be very discreet and avoid any mention in the press. However, five days before the end of the shoot, a newspaper published an article stating I was directing a new film. The military immediately gave orders to interrupt the shoot. We were instructed to bring them our rushes to be verified. I immediately announced to the official in charge of cinema in Iran that this was out of the question, and that I would not allow a single soldier during the final days of the shoot. Luckily, there were only a few scenes left to shoot, inside a minibus, so we just left the military zone and continued filming sixty kilometers outside of Tehran.

But the difficulties Panahi faced from overzealous authorities is nothing compared to those encountered by the subjects of his movie. They are the female football fans who so desperately want to watch Iran play Bahrain in a 2005 match that would decide which team would go to the World Cup.

The movie opens on a bus, as Iranian fans make their way to the Azadi Stadium to see the crucial qualifier against Bahrain. The scene is joyous, with fans hanging out the windows and singing, psyching themselves up for the game. But one fan is more nervous than excited. This fan, it turns out, is a she and shes are not allowed into stadiums in Iran.

The female fan (we never find out names of any of the women in the film) is going in disguise, trying to avoid the glare of police at the stadium. But her cover is blown by her own nervousness and she is taken to a holding pen, along with other female football fans.

It’s in this holding pen, which is really just metal barricades shaped into a rectangle, that the majority of the movie takes place. The action of the movie, if it can be called that, is mostly the captive female fans attempting to persuade their captors to let them watch the game. Those looking for dramatic shots of the action on the field will be sorely disappointed; this is a movie about the repressive realities of contemporary Iranian life that just happens to have a crucial World Cup qualifier as its background.

The Azadi Stadium is as good a place as any to show many of the injustices that exist in Iran today. The rationales that the female fans are given for not being allowed into the stadium are as numerous as they are absurd: women will be harmed by the coarse language in the stadium, they should not be looking at attractive young male players, soccer is just not a women’s game, etc. The most argumentative of the detained female fans points out that Japanese women were allowed in to a game at the same stadium and wonders if “my only problem is I was born in Iran?”

The soldiers who become the women’s captors are hardly enthused with having to keep the fans from watching the game. One soldier is completely disinterested in his work, another continually sneaks peeks at the game, and a third laments that his conscription has taken him so far from his family farm. The root of the problem does not lie with the soldiers; they are merely forced to carry out the unjust laws created by those above them.

That seems to be the point Panahi is most interested in making. Individually, Iranians may support female fans’ right to go to the stadium, but the authorities in the country create a system that forces some citizens to oppress others.

Panahi also clearly hopes that Iranians might take collective action to stop these injustices from occurring. When a female fan escapes from her captor with the aid of some male fans, it is impossible not to see Panahi’s desire that more Iranians take a stand against injustice in their country. As the famous quote goes, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Jafar Panahi

Offside is undoubtedly an interesting, it is not the most engaging movie. Its topic may be unique, but the film itself is all too predictable. The soldier least interested initially in the female fans’ plight comes to see their perspective by the end of the film. The women are detained, but in the end are released onto the streets of Tehran to celebrate with their countrymen and women. Watching Offside, you’ll rarely be surprised by what’s coming next.

The one surprise in the movie is how little soccer there is. Leaving the theater, my friend and I concurred that we would have liked to see shots of what sounded like an intense game. Of course, as we quickly realized, not showing the game was an intentional decision on Panahi’s part and that we had little right to complain. We, two twenty-something American men, had been denied a peek at the game during the ninety-minute movie; women in Iran have been denied the right to watch soccer for their entire lives.

Of all the teams in the 2006 World Cup, only two had teams comprised entirely of players based in their domestic leagues. One of these was Italy, the eventual champion. The other was Saudi Arabia, who finished last place in their group with only a draw against Tunisia to their name (at least they didn’t lose 8-0, as they did against Germany in 2002).

The Saudi Arabian national team

That the entire 2006 Italian squad played their club ball in Italy is not a surprise given the strength of Serie A. But the story of the Saudi squad is as much about Saudi Arabia the country as it is about soccer.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to use its official name, has long had a conflicted relationship with the outside world. 75% of government revenues come from oil exports, but these funds are used largely to maintain an insular and extremely conservative society. Women, for example, are not permitted to drive and cannot travel outside the country without a male family member escort.

Women are not the only Saudis who face restrictions on travel abroad. Saudi footballers face even more of a challenge when attempting to play outside of the kingdom. To date, only two Saudi players, Sami al-Jaber and Fahad Al Ghasian, have ever made the move abroad.

Why is it that Saudi Arabian players do not go abroad?

It is not a question of skill because, while not world beaters, Saudi players are good enough to play in leagues stronger than their own.

The reasons why Saudi players remain at home are economic and cultural.

The Saudi Arabian league is, as Sukhdev Sandhu writes in The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup, structured very differently from most. It is a “cosseted league system, bankrolled by princes and the state rather than by local entrepreneurs” (246). Those same princes are also in charge or closely connected to those at the Saudi Arabian Football Association and few in the hierarchy want to lose their most recognizable local stars. (Yet, just as Saudi Arabia’s rulers keep their people happy with oil dollars from abroad, soccer authorities often import aging European and Latin American stars to generate excitement.)

The economic imperative to keep home-grown stars at home is apparent, but it is not the only reason so few Saudi players have gone abroad.

Just as there are laws that hinder women from traveling abroad, Saudi soccer stars have faced restrictions on playing in other countries.

Throughout history, the Saudi authorities have officially banned its players from going abroad. After the 1994 World Cup, star Saeed Owairan (scorer of this goal) “was banned from moving abroad by his football federation … along with the rest of that squad.”

Saeed Owairan

Saudi bans on women’s freedom are, by nature, paternalistic. Paternalism is also in evidence in the soccer authorities’ ban on players going abroad. Sukhdev Sandhu writes, “The Saudi Arabian Football Association apparently fearing that its players might not be ready for the rigors and discipline of foreign leagues, has sought to stop would-be-exiles from leaving” (264).

In the past decade, there has been some loosening of this ban. Sami Al-Jaber played for half a season with Wolves in 2000, although he returned home after playing only a few matches as a substitute.

Sami Al-Jaber

Recently, the ban on Saudi players going abroad has been lifted. There are rumors that Galtasaray is interested in Yasser Al-Qahtani and the striker may move to Turkey over the summer.

But Al-Qahtani is unique in appearing to have an interest in playing abroad. As written on the Channel 4 website prior to the 2006 World Cup, “The barriers imposed by the Saudi FA on players moving abroad are no longer in place, but still few Saudi players have the desire to take their talents abroad.”

Saudi soccer fan Ghassan Bataweel told the website menafan.com in January that many players from his country have internalized the paternalistic attitudes of the Saudi FA. He says players are fearful that they might not be able to cut it in Europe. “[P]layers would not get the opportunity to play for prominent European clubs. It takes hard work and training to develop the level of skills that are required in order to make it on such teams.” (Economic factors are at work here too. Salaries in Saudi Arabia are far higher than Saudi players going abroad could hope to earn.)

In Saudi Arabian soccer, as in the country as a whole, a degree of hegemony has been established. Just as many in Saudi society have come to accept the strict social controls imposed by the country’s rulers as natural, so too have the country’s footballers internalized the interests of those who run soccer in that country. The Saudi FA may have eliminated the ban because, with so few players interested in playing abroad, it is no longer necessary.

The greatest threat to this status quo is globalization, a phenomenon occurring at a torrid pace. Even insular societies such as Saudi Arabia are facing increasing outside influence (satellite TV has brought European soccer to the kingdom and several leagues are draw higher ratings than the local competition). In the future, Saudi players will become more familiar with other leagues, and will recognize the poor quality of their own league by comparison. This may lead to more players wanting to test themselves abroad. But until that time, the country’s best players will continue to ply their trade in Saudi Arabia.

To many world leaders, soccer, and indeed all sports, are a distraction from the “real” business of governing the world. But some of the most powerful current and former leaders have also been, like millions they represent, soccer fans. A sampling of some world leaders who are also soccer fans.

When Evo Morales was elected president of Bolivia in 2005, he promised to be a different kind of leader. As the first indigenous president of a country whose population is over 50% Indian, Morales said he would govern for those who had been ignored. Morales’s style has differed from that of his predecessors, he wears traditional Bolivian sweaters to formal events with other world leaders. Morales is perhaps unique in the lofty heights of world power in that he continues to play soccer. Playing soccer on his local team, the Bolivian leader has suffered injuries, such as in 2006, when he had his nose broken by an opponent.

What position does Evo Morales play? I’m guessing he’s a left winger.

Bolivia’s neighbor also has a soccer fan installed as its leader. Argentina’s Nestor Kirchner is a fan of Racing Club de Avellaneda. Interestingly, his wife Cristina Fernandez, whom some think may try to take over from her husband, is known to be a fan of Gimanasia de la Plata. A Soccernet article last year talked of the Kirchners receiving Juan Sebastian Verón on his return to Argentina, despite the fact that La Brujita would be playing for Gimnasia’s city rivals, Estudiantes de la Plata.

Italy’s former prime minster, Silvio Berlusconi, was able to rise to the highest office in the land largely because of his soccer connections. Berlusconi rose to fame in Italy as president of AC Milan and used this name recognition to launch himself into political office. Running in the Forza Italia party (a name which literally means “Go Italy”) previously connected to national team supporters, Berlusconi ran Italy from 2001 - 2006. While in office, some questioned whether Berlusconi’s dual role as prime minister and president of AC Milan was a conflict of interest.

China’s current leader Hu Jintao has no apparent interest in soccer, but Premier Wen Jiabao (#3 in the country’s political hierarchy) claims to be a fan. In the lead-up to the 2006 World Cup, Wen told German chancellor Angela Merkel “China has a massive number of football fans who will stay up to watch the matches (with the six-hour time difference), and I’m one of them.” Merkel also claimed to like soccer, even saying she “had arranged her schedule so that she could watch any match Germany plays, including the final.” Yeah, shame about that.

Occasionally, a world leader’s interest in soccer has gotten him in trouble. After being elected in a shock result in 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got his country’s soccer program suspended from FIFA for allegedly installing his own people into positions at the Iranian FA. Though Ahmadinejad denied the charge, FIFA suspended Iran from international play for nearly a month in late 2005 until the apparent government interference into Iran’s FA (a big no-no in FIFA’s eyes) was stopped.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually looks like he knows what he’s doing (in soccer, that is)

These leaders appear to be genuine fans of soccer, though they are forced to share company with those who use the sport merely for their own political gain. Tony Blair, for example, claims to be a Newcastle United supporter, but as the blog Liberal England shows, his devotion is probably not genuine. And anyone who has seen Blair attempt to play soccer knows he was never likely to play in the Premier League (then again, Newcastle is pretty poor this year).

Glenn Roeder, he’s out of a job soon, sign him up!

There is perhaps no better way for a politician to be seen as a man (or woman) of the people in most of the world than to claim interest in soccer. But doing so when one lacks interest in or knowledge of the game is simply another way in which a politician can confirm people’s worst suspicions about their leaders being disingenuous. Perhaps other world leaders should take their cues from George Bush (did I really just write that?). The self-styled cowboy leader said in 2006 about his fellow Americans: “[A] lot of us grew up not knowing anything about soccer, like me. I never saw soccer as a young boy. We didn’t play it where I was from. It just didn’t exist.”

Hey kids, what sport do y’all play again?

Know of any other world leaders who are soccer fans? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Soccer has often been called a religion. Both soccer and religion boast an incredibly high number of passionate devotees. But some extremists in the religious community see the game as a threat to their religion and their values. Religious proclamations intended to prohibit soccer have been surprisingly common in recent times. Yet despite these edicts, soccer remains the only thing capable of competing with religion for adherents.

A recent Adidas advertisement makes the link between soccer and religion

A USA Today headline on Iraqis watching the 2006 World Cup screamed out “When World Cup’s on, the only religion is soccer.” 1970 Brazilian national team captain Carlos Alberto Torres has said that “football in Brazil is like a religion.” Even Italy, home of the Catholic church, has seen its obsession with calcio compared to matters of faith, with the AP describing it as “a country where soccer is a religion for many.”

Some have wondered whether Europe’s rise in soccer attendance and the drop in church-going are related. In a 2002 opinion piece in Rutgers University’s student newspaper, the Daily Targum, Thomas Mitchell asked whether soccer had become “Europe’s substitute religion.”

In pure numbers of adherents to their faith, soccer may actually be more popular than religion. Writing during the 2006 World Cup, Chicago Tribune writer Tom Hundley quantified the comparison:

Christianity, with more than 2 billion believers, ranks second among the major religions of the world. Soccer is first.

Devotees of soccer don’t necessarily see it as competing with religion for their faith. But some religious authorities do.

Some Islamists see the game as a direct threat to their values and have gone to great lengths to restrict it. In 2005, Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Watan published an anti-soccer fatwa. The fatwa went to great lengths to condemn the world’s most popular sport (including great popularity within the Kingdom of Saud itself). The fatwa is below followed by a few choice morsels of its condemnation.

You should spit in the face of whoever puts the ball between the posts.

Play in your regular clothes or your pyjamas or something like that, but not coloured shorts and numbered T-shirts, because shorts and T-shirts are not Muslim clothing.

Do not play in two halves. Rather, play in one half or three halves in order to completely differentiate yourselves from the heretics, the corrupted and the disobedient.

Do not call “foul” and stop the game if someone falls and sprains a hand or foot or the ball touches his hand, and do not give a yellow or red card to whoever was responsible for the injury or tackle. Instead, it should be adjudicated according to Sharia rulings concerning broken bones and injuries.

Do not follow the heretics, the Jews, the Christians and especially evil America regarding the number of players. Do not play with 11 people. Add to this number or decrease it.

Though the fatwa had little impact overall (other religious authorities condemned it roundly), it did seem to play a part in influencing some Saudis to travel to Iraq to wage jihad. These players were influenced most by the part of the fatwa which claimed that soccer should only be used as training for jihad:

If you have fulfilled these conditions and intend to play soccer, play to strengthen the body in order better to struggle in the way of God on high and to prepare the body for when it is called to jihad.

According to a translation from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI),

On August 22, 2005, Al-Watan reported that the soccer players involved in this affair were from the Al-Taif region, and that some of them belonged to the region’s well-known Al-Rashid team.” In another article, Al-Rashid captain Ja’far ‘Attas said that three of his players had left the team. A few days later, team members confirmed that the three had become devout and, under the influence of various fatwas, had begun to believe that soccer was forbidden by religious law.

In the summer of 2006, the World Cup coincided with the rise to power of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Somalia. The Islamist group took control of the lawless country and immediately imposed its views on the population. Like the Taliban had done during its rule, the ICU barred its people from watching soccer. According to Newsweek, “open-air video parlors showing World Cup matches were shut down,” making Somalis among the few people around the world not watching the tournament that summer.

Hassan Dahir Aweys, one of the leaders of the soccer-banning Islamic Courts Union

Not wanting to be outdone by Sunni extremists, Iraq’s radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr issued his own anti-soccer fatwa. Citing the views of his father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sar, and Islamic law (sharia), the young cleric said:

Not only my father but Sharia also prohibits such activities which keep the followers too occupied for worshiping, keep people from remembering [to worship]. Habeebi, the West created things that keep us from completing ourselves (perfection). What did they make us do? Run after a ball, habeebi What does that mean? A man, this large and this tall, Muslim- running after a ball? Habeebi, this ‘goal’ as it is called; if you want to run, run for a noble goal. Follow the noble goals which complete you and not the ones that demean you.

Before returning to Iraq after the US invasion in 2003, Sadr lived in Iran, a country known for barring women from its stadiums. CNN detailed the Iranian policy:

One religious leader, Fazel Lankarani, went further and issued a fatwa against the presence of women in stadiums. Aliabadi, who announced that women would be permitted to attend live games from the start of next season, seemed to backtrack when he told reporters: “The ban on single women still exists and we won’t allow single women to attend any games. Only women who come with their families will be allowed in.” On March 1, Iran’s security forcibly stopped 50 female football fans from attempting to enter Tehran’s Azadi or “freedom” stadium to watch a match between Iran and Costa Rica.

But, as Franklin Foer documents in his book How Soccer Explains the World, passionate fans in Iran have fought against the restrictive rules. Foer tells how the Azadi stadium had, upon Iran’s qualification for the 1998 World Cup, seen thousands of women allowed in to celebrate the achievement (221). The Iranian regime, Foer writes, has a “Roman nose for self-preservation” (219) and going against their own fatwa was not a radical shift in policy, but a temporary move aimed at avoiding confrontation with jubilant fans.

Iranian fans in a special “female-only” section attend a game in 2005

Lest one think that Islam is the only religion to harbor animosity toward soccer, Christianity has its own extremists who critique the sport on religious grounds. Echoing the radical Islamists’ view that sport takes people’s focus away from “higher goals,” the Rev. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlassios Hierotheos of the Greek Hierotheos Vlachos of the Greek Orthodox Church issued this proclamation in 2002:

For many people, soccer is a religion, a worship. Several expressions used are taken from religion. Spectators sit in the stands and their “gods”, the soccer players, contest as another twelve/eleven gods in the field for Victory. Since soccer is considered by many as a new worship, there is certainly their own god, the god of soccer. They pray to this non-existing god.

As anyone who has seen the movie The Cup knows, not all Buddhists love the beautiful game. In the film, based on a true story, boys at a Tibetian Buddhist monestary in the Himalayas work to convince their teachers to allow them to watch the 2002 World Cup final. The outcome of the movie (I don’t want to spoil it but if you can’t figure out what happens at the end of this “feel good” flick something’s wrong with you) gives hope that the religious around the world might see the error in their ways.

From the Korean-language version poster of The Cup

Religious authorities need not see soccer as a threat to their faiths. The young monks who watched Ronaldo toe poke his way to victory have not lost their faith. Soccer is a powerful force loved billions around the world, but it is not powerful enough to challenge true religions.

Since writing about the long and shameful history of political violence on the soccer field, I’ve been keeping an eye out for current instances of this phenomenon. Sadly, such an incident took only a couple of weeks to occur. Not surprisingly, it took place in Iraq.

The suicide bombing that killed 18 boys as they played soccer in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi last Monday was sad enough on its own. At the same time, it illustrates how badly the American military is struggling to contain the violence in Iraq as the country spirals downward towards all-out civil war.

Children play soccer on a Fallujah field after a suicide bombing

On hearing reports of the suicide bombing, the US military went into news-spinning mode. Spokesmen said that there were two incidents that day in Ramadi and that one had been a controlled explosion near a soccer field in which there had been injuries but no deaths.

Only later in the week, with some reporting from the Washington Post, did it become clear that the soccer field attack had indeed occurred. The Post quoted local sheikh Raad Sabah al-Mukeilef, who was likely the intended target of the attack. Mukeilef said of the suicide bomber, “He came in a pickup. Instead of coming in my street, he did it in a small park for children.”

The sheikh also claimed that no members of the US military had responded to the incident. Despite this account, US military spokesman Mark Fox continued to contradict reality. “We ran this down,” said Rear Admiral Fox. “There was no second blast and there were not 18 children killed. The soccer field that was touted in the erroneous report was across the street from the structure that was in the controlled detonation.”

It is sad enough that the US military has so little awareness of, let alone control over, the violence in Iraq. It is even sadder that 18 children had to die playing soccer to make this clear.

Days after the suicide bombing that killed these young boys Ramadi was again the site of violence toward soccer players. The Guardian reports that Mohhamed Hamid and Mohammed Mishaan, both members of the local Ramadi Football Club, were killed on March 2. According to the website Iraq Slogger, both players were killed in the middle of a team practice.

Masked gunmen in Ramadi, west of Iraq, killed football players Mohammed Hamid, 27, and Mohammed Mish’an, 23, from the Ramadi Football Team in front of spectators and teammates while they were in a training session Friday. Three vehicles carrying a dozen gunmen entered the stadium and dragged the two players toward the cars, while people watched in fear. When the two players resisted, they were both shot execution-style, according to eyewitnesses and Ramadi police spokesman Major Tariq Yousif. The two players were accused of being supporters of the Anbar Salvation Council, a tribal group led by Sheikh Abdul Sattar Al-Rishawi, which is opposed to Al-Qaeda militants in the Anbar Governorate.

No word yet on whether the US military plans to deny this latest violence on Iraq’s soccer fields.

Update

NPR ran a great story which is an antidote the theme of violence being perpetrated on the soccer field. The story talks about a mixed Sunni / Shiite league in Baghdad that attempts to bring players from all backgrounds together. Many of the players specifically talked about the league being non-sectarian as a reason why they played in it. Unfortunately, it’s probably only a matter of time before those in Iraq who don’t want to see such unity attack the players in this league.

Fans often attempt to show their dedication to their club by claiming that it is truly a part of who they are. In most cases, this is simple cliché. But not with the fans of Swedish club Assyriska. Many of these supporters are members of Assyrian diaspora living around the world. Assyriska has come to represent them, as a national team for minority group with no nation.

Assyriska fans hold up a giant Assyrian flag in support of their team

Assyriska was founded in 1974 by Assyrian immigrants to Sweden. Most of the founding members worked at a local truck factory who formed the club to play soccer in their free time. From those modest beginnings, the club slowly rose through the ranks of Swedish soccer.

In 2003, they made it to the Swedish Cup final, losing to established power Elfsborg. One year later, the team of founded by Assyrian immigrant factory workers won promotion to the Swedish Premier Division. The reaction was pure jubilation. The club marketing director Robil Haidari said, “At that moment we just felt such enormous joy, I figured everybody in the world is Assyrian now, even God is Assyrian, or at least a supporter.”

Assyrian residents of the town of Södertälje, the Swedish town where Assyriska are from, were similarly overwhelmed. Local resident Abraham Staifo attempted to explain his emotions:

It encouraged the young ones to feel pride in being what they are, and brought tears to the eyes of the elderly. It was so much more than just football. The Assyrian people have few opportunities to express themselves. We felt our hearts would shoot out from our chests. That is why the elderly cried.

Reaching these dizzying heights brought recognition to the team, not least among the estimated 2 million Assyrians living around the world. Club president Zeiki Bisso told FIFA’s website, “For all of us who were oppressed in our home countries for many years … this felt superb, it was something every Assyrian wanted to take pride in.”

Indeed, at times it seemed like nearly every Assyrian did take pride in the club’s success. Its matches were broadcast in 83 countries and the diaspora spoke about the team in glowing terms. Assyriska team scarves began to appear far from Sweden, including by Nick Dinkha, a Toronto resident.

The pride fans around the world expressed in Assyriska has everything to do with the often sad history of the Assyrian people. The Assyrians are indigenous to current-day Iraq and have lived there for thousands of years. They were one of the first groups to convert to Christianity. Even as many around them in the Middle East later converted to Islam, Assyrians continued to practice their religion.

Assyrians’ historical relationship with their neighbors is fraught with flare-ups of violence. Assyrians have been the subject of campaigns of oppression that has risen to the level of mass murder on several occasions. In 2003, political analyst Jonathan Eric Lewis wrote in Middle East Quarterly that of the events of 1915 when up to two-thirds of the Assyrian community of southeastern Turkey and northern Iran was physically decimated in a matter of months. Lewis also documents a 1933 event in which nearly 3000 people were killed by Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, the anniversary of which is a national day of mourning for Assyrians around the world.

Ottoman soldiers stand over the bodies of murdered Assyrians

In Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, things were not much better. Speaking the Assyrian language and advocating Assyrian nationalism were both criminalized. Many left the country and this exodus has accelerated since the US overthrew Hussein in 2003. The violence in Iraq is often described as a battle between Sunnis and Shiites, but Iraqi Christians have been intimidated and murdered across the country. When prominent Iraqi Assyrian leader Isaac Esho Alhelani was murdered earlier this month, he joined the ranks of many Christians targeted for their beliefs or their perceived wealth. Assyrians account for only three to five percent of the Iraqi population, but have accounted for roughly 40 percent of that country’s refugees.

Those leaving Iraq today are going to countries with established Assyrian populations. The United States has around 83,000 Assyrians, Jordan 77,000, and Sweden is third among diaspora countries with 35,000 Assyrians. Despite the growing numbers of Assyrians living around the world, many wish for their own country.

It is into this statelessness that a small Swedish soccer club founded by Assyrian immigrants entered. entered. Many claim Assyriska’s popularity is due to it being seen as a pseudo-national team. Club president Zeki Bisso says that “Assyriska feels like a national team for the entire [Assyrian] group.”

Assyriska has since been relegated back to the second division in Sweden. Its importance, however, has not been diminished. For the Assyrian population around the world, Assyriska is not just a soccer team; it is the most visible expression of national pride for an oppressed people without a nation.

Assyriska players celebrate after a goal

Further Information

A movie about Assyriska called A Team Without a Nation was made in 2006. I have not seen it, but would love to hear about it if anyone has.