People Praise Footballer Excluded For Criticizing Government

Hardliners deny any connection between the footballer’s political views and his exclusion from his team due to alleged interference of state authorities. In a tweet Wednesday, Abdolreza Davari, one of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's advisors and confidants who later turned against him, accused the former captain of Esteghlal FC of making controversial statements “to play victim” because he knows but at the age of 35 he is no longer physically fit to play and that the renewal of his contract is not likely.