Politics
FIFA plays flag football against Iranian protesters
LOS ANGELES — Iran’s players arrived back in the United States yesterday to play Belgium. For supporters of Team Melli, a cat-and-mouse game with FIFA over political expression continues.
Soccer’s global governing body has included Iran’s pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flag — a favorite symbol of those protesting the régime in Tehran — on its list of “materials, including but not limited to banners, flags, fliers, apparel and other paraphernalia, that are of a political, offensive and/or discriminatory nature” banned under its stadium code of conduct.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court court judge upheld the ban last week after a challenge from the Southern California-based Institute for Voice of Liberty, which argued that FIFA was targeting “protected symbolic and political speech” in violation of California law.
Actually enforcing the ban against a flood of fans entering the stadium with the emblem on a wide variety of paper and cloth goods has been tougher.
As Iran’s players came out to examine the field about 90 minutes before kickoff of their first match, on Monday night against New Zealand, a stadium official approached a 26-year-old Orange County woman who was holding the flag.
Under FIFA’s rules, he told her, she could wear the Lion and Sun but not “display” it. He lowered his voice to share a loophole: If she wrapped herself in the flag, it would become an item of clothing, exempting it from FIFA’s ban.
“If it’s not supposed to be political, why can you have the post-revolutionary flag and not the pre-revolutionary flag?” the woman remarked after. “And why isn’t like anyone else’s flag banned, like the Venezuelan flag, or whatever?”
The pre-Islamic Revolution flag has become a point of tension reflecting a deeper struggle over Iranian identity, dissent and representation on the world stage. It has has become a common symbol of protest amid the war in Iran, and when the flag of the Islamic Republic was rolled out on the field on Monday night, lots of fans countered with the Lion and Sun.
Fidgeting in his seat moments before kickoff, an Iranian-American man who declined to give his name sported a white T-shirt and black shorts and mulled his fashion choices. Though he supported the Iranian soccer team, he said he couldn’t bring himself to wear any official gear featuring the country’s current flag. He had also decided it was too fraught to show up in any gear emblazoned with the Lion and Sun. But as the Iranian team took the field to an explosion of noise from the mostly pro-Iran crowd, he seemed to second-guess his decidedly neutral sartorial choice.
There were other options. Outside, a man held a tri-country display, blending the flags of Israel, the United States and pre-revolution Iran. Meanwhile, the woman who had been approached by the FIFA official — and who gave her name only as Nicole out of fear she could be identified by the régime in Iran — wore a T-shirt with the pre-revolutionary flag. She had picked up a batch the previous day from a Westwood-based group allied with exiled opposition leader Reza Pahlavi that had organized pre-match protests.
Now each of the six family members in her row, including aunts and uncles who had moved to the U.S. after the 1979 revolution, was decked out in the Iranian flag. Each, said Nicole, was preparing to boo if Iran scored a goal.
“It’s a government team,” she said. “This is bittersweet. It’s the first time that Iran has a chance of making it out of the group stage, because last time they were in the Group of Death. But it’s like: how happy can you really be?”
Gov. Josh Shapiro is quickly becoming the prospective 2028 presidential campaign field’s biggest World Cup fan.
On Monday, the Pennsylvania governor and potential presidential candidate is set to attend his second match of the tournament when he is in the stands at Lincoln Financial Field to see Iraq play France in Philadelphia, according to a spokesperson. He also attended Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador there a week ago with his wife Lori. Shapiro is also expected to hit the FIFA Fan Festival before the match.
Shapiro joins a growing list of 2028 hopefuls to take in the tournament. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, attended the U.S. opener against Paraguay. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended the American squad’s match against Australia. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who hasn’t actively made moves toward a campaign but has carved out a leadership role in the party, attended the France vs. Senegal game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
A number of potential 2028 candidates in states hosting games have not yet made the pilgrimage to a game: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) hasn’t partaken of an East Rutherford match. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, for example, have not attended matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (Ossoff has said he has no interest in running for president), nor has Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) hasn’t taken in a match at either AT&T Stadium in Arlington or NRG Stadium in Houston.
Shapiro is known on local sports radio as “Josh in Abington,” and is a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles and 76ers. That fandom could help him build stronger relationships with voters. Philadelphia’s fan zone has drawn significant crowds.
Shapiro has also used host status to distribute 700 free tickets to Philadelphia community organizations. He said it was “really important” to him that it would happen when he landed matches.
“Governor Shapiro believes the FIFA World Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that should benefit all Pennsylvanians,” his office said in a press release earlier this month, and “he is working to make the matches free and accessible to as many people as possible.”
The tickets are also an economic development tool: “As part of Visit PA’s sponsorship of Philadelphia Soccer 2026, the Commonwealth gains access to a mix of suite, VIP, and general admission tickets, which are being used to host business leaders, prospective partners, and other guests to further strengthen Pennsylvania’s economic development and promote the Commonwealth as the best place to visit, live, and do business,” a Shapiro spokesperson said.
More broadly, the politics of attending a FIFA World Cup game are tricky, says Eric Koch, a soccer fan and Democratic consultant based in New York City.
“In fairness the ticket prices are insane and the U.S. matches have all been on the West Coast so it’s hard for anyone to get out there — and AOC has been (rightfully!) basking in the Knicks win,” Koch said. “The U.S. loves a winner and this squad is not only super talented but is also on the cusp of really capturing the hearts of the whole country as we go to the knockout rounds so I expect we will see more candidates embracing them. It’s going to be a great unifying thing to rally behind.”
For Democrats in particular, embracing the World Cup could help them with two political projects, Koch said: embracing some kind of patriotism and relating more with voters, but it has to be an authentic effort.
“As with all things in politics, if it’s not authentic to you and what you’re about, it’s going to seem fake and forced and this applies extra to sports, which people have actual deep connections to,” Koch said. “The good thing is the USMNT can be everyone’s team and as the hype train builds I think we will see more pols embracing them.”
President Donald Trump’s fingerprints are all over this World Cup — even the stadium gift shops, trade editor Emily Cadei writes in.
Granted, few of the customers that are mobbing official FIFA merch stores are examining the provenance of their $100+ jerseys or $50 baseball caps. But those “Made in” tags tell a story of how trade flows have shifted since Trump was first elected to the White House.
The jerseys? Made in Thailand. The scarves? Made in Vietnam. The special edition soccer ball displaying the names of the North American host cities? Made in Indonesia. (None of those countries, notably, are in the World Cup themselves, with only Indonesia even coming close to qualifying.)
They are part of a surge in imports the United States has seen from Southeast Asia in recent years, as Trump ratcheted up tariffs on neighboring China and as Chinese labor became more expensive, relative to other countries in the region. Vietnam has been a particular beneficiary of the shift, with its goods exports to the U.S. jumping 42 percent in 2025, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The same is true, but on a smaller scale, for Thailand and Indonesia.
Imports from those countries have continued to climb in 2026, even after the Supreme Court in February struck down Trump’s steepest tariffs on China, making their exports, in theory, a little cheaper. But the ruling did not affect tariffs Trump levied on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese goods during his first term.
The Trump administration is now threatening China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries with additional tariffs as a part of trade investigations launched to replace the ones struck down by the Supreme Court. They aren’t expected to be as extreme, however, as the ones the president imposed last year.
Even with those duties in place, America still bought plenty from China in 2025 — more than $300 billion worth of goods, per USTR. Thus far in 2026, China ranks behind only Mexico and Canada (our North American World Cup co-hosts) in terms of largest U.S. trading partners.
And indeed, the FIFA shops are hawking plenty of “Made in China” swag, too: from bucket hats, to collectible pins, to keychains, to a $40 imitation gold chain with a FIFA logo pendant that my 8-year-old begged me to buy for him.
(That was a hard “no.”)
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