Grenades, Lasers, Football

The throwing of hand grenades onto the pitch and the use of lasers during international football matches by some spectators in Iran has led to heavy penalties. At the beginning of the second half of the match between Iran and China in the World Cup qualifiers, Mehdi Taremi scored the only goal of the game. Immediately, a homemade grenade landed from the spectators' stands behind the touchline. The assistant referee from Singapore fell to the ground holding his head, causing a delay in the restart of the game. This incident and its potential heavy repercussions were reported in international media, including sports press in China and Qatar. Given that the Iranian Football Federation had received two disciplinary warnings, football fans in Iran are concerned about the consequences of the Singaporean assistant referee falling to the ground. Iran has two more home games in the World Cup qualifiers against Uzbekistan and Syria, where the large presence of spectators, similar to the game against China, could significantly impact the performance of Carlos Queiroz's team. According to the legal committee of the Iranian Football Federation, 'it is likely that the penalty for the Iranian Football Federation will be monetary.' Hossein Nasirzadeh stated to Tasnim news agency: 'FIFA has delegated the organization of World Cup qualifiers to the confederations but intervenes in disciplinary matters. Therefore, we suspect we will be fined again.' According to this member of the legal committee, the fines will be deducted from the amount FIFA annually allocates to national federations. However, FIFA's disciplinary regulations also foresee matches without spectators or matches on neutral ground. Given that the violation was not collective but occurred individually, the Iranian federation hopes not to lose the advantage of having around one hundred thousand spectators. The troubles caused by some fans do not only concern the national team. Esteghlal Tehran has also been fined $51,000 due to its fans shining lasers on the faces of opposing players and the referee. This incident occurred in the AFC Champions League. The disciplinary committee of the Asian Football Confederation has warned that if this behavior is repeated in the next two years, the team will be condemned to play without spectators. The recent decision by the Asian Football Confederation regarding the fine was made following two matches of Esteghlal Tehran against Al-Sadd of Qatar and Lokomotiv of Uzbekistan. The use of lasers by Esteghlal fans on the face of Xavi, the Spanish star of Al-Sadd, led to protests from the visiting team and received widespread media coverage due to Xavi's global reputation. Now, while the blue team faces financial difficulties, they must also pay about 190 million tomans to the Asian Confederation. According to the Asian Confederation, the 'entertainment' of some spectators with the loud noise of grenades and laser lights could have far heavier repercussions than hefty financial penalties.