The World Cup group stage match between Egypt and Iran, at 5:00 AM CEST, 4:00 BST on Saturday, June 27, will also be dubbed as the "Pride Match", because it falls on the Friday before Pride Weekend, and the Seattle World Cup organising committee designated that this would be the "Pride Match", and will be filled with LGBTQ+ flags and symbols... before knowing it would be played between two Muslim countries.
Months ago, when the draw was made and chance decided that it would be Egypt vs. Iran on Seattle on Saturday, June 27 at 5 AM CEST, both countries protested, saying that these celebrations "would clash with the cultural and religious values of the nations participating in the match" and asked FIFA to guarantee the match would be "free from displays that contradict the beliefs of the participating nations".
FIFA did not respond, and the "Pride Match" will go as planned, as awkward as it will be with countries that forbid or punish the LGBTQ+ community. In Egypt, same-sex relationships are not forbidden, but the country has some "morality clauses" that criminalises them, according to The Pink News: laws that are used to selectively target queer people, who are unprotected against discrimination. Same-sex marriage is also not allowed, and trans people cannot make their gender marker.
Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei said that they will ignore the flags and "ignore things that don't exist". "We are here to play football, not for other things. As for things that are forbidden in our religion and do not exist, we do not want to talk about them. We only talk about the match, football and the beauty of the game." In Iran, same sex relationships are punishable, sometimes by life in prison, lashes or death.