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Iran’s Manager Calls Out “Racist” Klinsmann

November 27, 2022
Akhtar Safi
2 min read
Iran's national football team coach Carlos Queiroz has criticised Jurgen Klinsmann over his offensive comments about the Iranian team on the BBC on Friday
Iran's national football team coach Carlos Queiroz has criticised Jurgen Klinsmann over his offensive comments about the Iranian team on the BBC on Friday

Iran's national football team coach Carlos Queiroz has criticised Jurgen Klinsmann over his offensive comments about the Iranian team on the BBC on Friday, while the German commentator has said he wants to talk with Queiroz to “calm things down”. Queiroz asked Klinsmann to resign from FIFA’s World Cup Technical Study Group and said the comments he made about Iran are “a disgrace to football”.

“Carlos fits really well with the national team and their culture, he failed in South America with Colombia and then failed to qualify with Egypt, and he came in right before the World Cup with Iran, where he worked for a long time,” Klinsmann said after Iran beat Wales 2-0.

“This is their culture, they take you off your game,” Klinsmann said. “It would have been different with a different referee. They have five people around the referee. This did not play into the hands of Wales.” Queiroz said Klinsmann could come to the Iran camp to learn its “culture” after resigning his position.

Remarks a “disgrace to football”

“No matter how much I can respect what you did inside the pitch, those remarks about Iran Culture, Iran National Team and my Players are a disgrace to Football. Nobody can hurt our integrity if it is not at our level, of course,” Queiroz wrote on Twitter on Saturday. 

“Even saying so, we would like to invite you as our guest, to come to our National Team Camp, socialize with Iran players and learn from them about the Country, the people of Iran, the poets and art, the algebra, all the millennial Persian culture and also listen from our players how much they love and respect Football,” he added. 

Klinsmann’s comments sparked outrage on social media, with many calling out European xenophobia. “Oh, the irony of Klinsmann, who as a player was often accused of cheating (diving!), making these sweeping and pretty racist-sounding claims about Central Americans and Middle Easterns. Sad that nobody else on that panel called him out on it,” journalist Mehdi Hasan tweeted.

Klinsmann said on Sunday that he wants to talk with Queiroz, the BBC reported. “All I described was their emotional way of doing things, which is actually admirable in a certain way. The whole bench lives the game. They’re jumping up and down and Carlos is a very emotional coach, he's constantly on the sidelines trying to give his players all his energy and direction,” the former German star said.

 

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