World Cup in Disarray as Iran and Egypt Demand LGBT Celebration be Cancelled
The World Cup has been thrown into disarray after Iran and Egypt demanded that an LGBT celebration planned for their June 26th match in Seattle be cancelled to “respect their beliefs and identity”. The Spectator‘s Philip Patrick has more.
Fifa looks set to face its first major scandal of the 2026 World Cup – if you don’t count the exorbitant cost of the tickets, that is. The Egyptian FA has made a formal request for the cancellation of an LGBTQ+ celebration planned to take place at their Group G game against Iran on June 26th in Seattle. The game roughly coincides with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969. The Seattle Pride match committee is planning to combine celebrations of the anniversary with the game.
A Pride match or Pride night is a tradition in American sports going back to around 2000 and is now embraced by most US sports. These events usually involve a particular game being dedicated to certain communities. The baseball league, for example, has hosted several events over the years and once enlisted the help of gay rights activist Billy Bean (of Moneyball fame) to advise teams on LGBTQ issues. The NBA and National Hockey League have followed suit. The game between Iran and Egypt will be the first Pride match in World Cup history.
But with homosexuality outlawed in Iran, and effectively banned in Egypt, the sensitivities could not be higher. Egypt has outlined its “absolute rejection” of any activities linked to gay rights inside the stadium on match day, saying it is “culturally incompatible”. The Egyptian FA has cited the governing body’s “established principle of respecting competing nation’s beliefs and identities”. Iranian media has backed up Egypt’s demands. Oddly, neither country had any objection to the Village People’s performance at the draw itself.
Fifa will surely be kicking themselves. Despite some rather farcical and amateurish elements on the night, the World Cup draw was one of the most tightly controlled in the tournament’s history. The strongest teams were kept apart until the late stages, teams from the same confederation were separated as much as possible and top billing, plum slots and premium ticket prices given to the three hosts. They even bent the rules to allow Cristiano Ronaldo to compete – despite him earning a three-match ban in Portugal’s penultimate competitive fixture before the tournament. All was set for a revenue-maximising extravaganza.
But you can’t think of everything and Fifa overlooked the possibility of two Islamic countries playing in one of America’s wokest cities on a date of great significance to the gay community. It has now been placed in an impossible position. It can either reject the Egyptian demand and be accused of not respecting the “beliefs and identities” of all competing nations or cancel the Pride match and risk enraging the progressive elements of Seattle and beyond.
Yet another blow to the ludicrous ‘rainbow coalition’ that supposedly unites Muslims and LGBT groups on the Left. Queers for Palestine must be wondering what on earth is going on.
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One has to laugh.
Excellent. I look forward to FIFA wriggling on the hook of Islam v Woke. It’ll be the most interesting part of the World Cup.
Seems to be prefiguring mutually assured destruction leaving ground zero for the new world order.
What’s the saying about not interrupting your enemy?…
Hahahaha
I don’t understand why it’s now mandatory to have Sodomite Pride marches with flags everywhere in the West, but not “Adultery Pride”, “Paedophile Pride”, “Voyeur Pride”, “Naked Exhibitionist Pride”, “Ritual Genital Mutilation Pride”, “Bestiality Pride”, “Drug Dealers Pride”, “Abortion Pride”, “Organ Harvesting Pride”, or “Assisted Suicide Pride”, for example…
Perhaps they just haven’t designed the corresponding flags yet.
“Wanker’s pride”, lead by Starmer
Ha-ha! Spot on, Shred! That’s the best one, and I’m still chuckling about it. 🙂
Now you’re just being silly.
Ok then, how about “Kneelers Pride”?
“Plank Pride”?
Or maybe Lee Anderson’s idea for Lammy: “Village Idiot Pride”?
Perfect🤣🤣
🙂
You forgot “licking mayonnaise from my girl friend pride” (and a few more I had the mispleasure to get to know because people insisted on talking about them but they’re seriously too disgusting to put them into words).
In more general terms, is there perhaps a chance that the people who care for nothing but the ‘saucy’ details of their sex lives will ever understand that this is much less interesting to anybody else and that they should stop boasting about them?
Gross!
The whole thing is just exhibitionism.
The mind boggles as to what some of these flags would look like. Perhaps best not to think about it.
Good.
Here’s an idea. How about just dropping all political displays from football matches?
Radical, I know.
One hundred upticks please.
Yeah, I mean… I kind of thought football was about kicking a ball.
I have to beg to differ here: In theory, people should be able to chose freely what kind of events they attend. Peope who want to attend football matches shouldn’t be forced into Pride!-celebrations and vice-versa (22 people with a ball gatecrashing a Pride!-parade to play football instead certainly wouldn’t be approved of by the organizers).
BUT
this is professional football which isn’t about football at all but about advertising and everybody knows that. And surely, everybody who wants to promote something that’s legal and has the money to do so ought to be allowed to do it. Hence, in the given situation, if Egypt and Iran are not happy with He who pays the piper calls the tune, they’re free to avoid attending. LGBTXYZ-advertising is legal in the USA and that it’s not legal elsewhere doesn’t matter for events in the USA.
The coalition of the fringes cannot hold.
I can’t stand FIFA or Infantino, and think FIFA awarding a peace prize is daft, but it did make me laugh that they awarded Trump a peace prize. That has pissed off a lot of annoying people.
So, LGBBQTV symbols were banned in Qatar to respect the local culture but now the host is asked to cater for the guest’s demands. All created by the leftards so they should deal with this sh*t. Will they ask the Muslim teams to take the knee as well?
Queers for Palestine, aka turkeys for Christmas.
Strange, DS seem to have a problem with the article I shared about the booming sex-change industry in Iran, as it’s vanished. Actually, the comment count is showing 2 extra than the posts visible, so has anyone else had their comment removed?
Yes, mine in response to yours. That’s a first. Deleted comments was a reason I cancelled the Telegraph.
LOL, well maybe they didn’t like my source, so here’s an experiment: Same content, different source. Let’s see if this one fairs any better;
”For 40 years Iran has performed more gender transition surgeries than many other nations, largely a result of pressuring gay and gender-nonconforming citizens to undergo unwanted operations or risk the death penalty.
Now, faced with an economy crippled by war and sanctions, the Islamic republic is promoting its expertise to a global audience, hoping to attract transgender foreigners with the promise of inexpensive surgeries packaged with luxury hotel stays and sightseeing tours.
Desperate for foreign investment, Iran’s theocratic government has set a goal of generating more than $7 billion from medical tourism annually, according to Iranian state news media, about seven times as much as it earned last year. That objective has resulted in the proliferation of medical tourism companies, marketing not just nose jobs and hair transplants, but vaginoplasties, mastectomies and penis constructions through glossy English-language websites.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/world/middleeast/iran-transgender-surgery.html
perhaps the DS will now restore my innocuous response….
Iran uses/used ‘sex change’ operations to solve the ‘problem’ of male homosexuality, we increasingly use it on lesbians. Clever idea of theirs to cash in on their expertise by broadening their scope to include voluntary surgery, not just for clients under threat of the death penalty.
I think in Afghanistan and Pakistan they just delude themselves they’re not gay by having sex with teenage boys that identify as female and/or much younger boys. Their hypocrisy is off the charts: Islam bans homosexuality but as long as it’s male children and cross-dressing youths it’s no problem;
https://x.com/i/status/1998813714191949933
Another reason for not visiting Iran.
Radical, intolerant islam meets radical, intolerant liberalism.
Much more interesting than a football match between Iran and Egypt.
I’ve got my pop-corn ready.
To be fully ‘diverse’ and to show respect for their sensibilities, why not turn it into a celebration of they way they treat gays and trannies?
Meanwhile, in ‘intolerant of literally everything’ Afghanistan, and where fun is forbidden ( unless it involves young boys );
”Four Afghan men were ordered to report to the Taliban government’s department of vice and virtue for dressing in costumes inspired by the TV series Peaky Blinders.
The friends were told that their clothing was “in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values”, a Taliban spokesman told the BBC, adding the values in Peaky Blinders went against Afghan culture.
In videos posted online, the men, who have been released, can be seen posing in flat caps and three-piece suits similar to those worn in the series set in England soon after World War One.
Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, they have imposed a number of restrictions on daily life in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
“Even jeans would have been acceptable, but the values in the Peaky Blinders series are against Afghan culture,” Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Taliban government’s provincial department of Vice and Virtue in Herat city told the BBC.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cedx6lqy967o
Oh no, now they’re going to avoid being deported by dressing in three piece suits in court!
I’ve never seen Peaky Blinders, what are the ‘values’ it espouses?
As I understand it, it’s about an in-bred family group that controls its neighbourhood by violence and racketeering. Not too far removed from the Taliban – or Birmingham, for that matter. (Just better dressed).
Thanks, yes perhaps it is a little too close for comfort as far as the Taliban are concerned!
Thankfully no Claire Short these days, otherwise the England team would have to withdraw in protest – as someone’s feelings are bound to get upset.
I hope they don’t drop the soap in the shower after the game.
This is where the hard left vision for the world, so heartwarmingly encapsulated in the WEF Agenda, comes crashing down. As they make us play their game of Lefty Top Trumps, taking the knee to their favoured causes of the moment, they take their eye off the ball and fail to spot the glaring incompatibilities between LGBTQA2Z and Islam.
Sit back and enjoy the fun.