Minutes after a late equaliser sent the Syrian football team to a World Cup playoff, Tareq – a football fan and regime critic – was unsure about what to feel, or how to react.

Alongside him in Beirut, two other Syrian exiles, Akram and Hashem, were just as conflicted. All three men, in their late 20s, had fled with their families as war engulfed Syria in 2011. And in six wrenching years since, feelgood moments had been rare, and often contrived.

For the underpaid national team and beleaguered government, it could not have been better scripted: a game that could elevate a team of battlers to the biggest event in world sport, while allowing its leaders to claim an even more significant win. The national sport had provided a nation-building event, which both battlefield and politics had failed to deliver.



But from their living room in Lebanon, the three exiles were wary. “The [Syrian football] league is built on corpses,” said Tareq, who asked that his family name be withheld. “Have you seen the video of Bashar al-Assad’s son, Hafez? ‘We’re all with you. We’re proud of you.’ Funny, I don’t recall the regime supporting the team prior to this. Most players are barely paid to get them through the month. Now the regime is elevating the players to hero-like figures when they couldn’t really care less about the sport, let alone the team.”

In Damascus, the clash with Iran was eagerly anticipated. Screens were set up around the capital, and thousands of fans waved state flags throughout the game. A win would have sent Syria through to the World Cup for the first time, as conflict still divided the country. Iran’s military support for the Assad regime has been decisive in war, and if it lost to its ally, it could have ushered the unlikeliest of debutants to the pinnacle of the global game in Russia in 2018.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syria’s players celebrate after their draw with Iran. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

A 2-2 draw didn’t quite deliver the fairytale, but an equaliser deep into extra time kept an improbable dream alive for a clash with Australia in Malaysia in October. Much has been made in Damascus of the return of two star players, who had both been stalwarts of the anti-Assad opposition earlier in the war. One, Omar al-Soma, who scored the winning goal, had circled a field in Kuwait with the opposition flag, while Firas al-Khatib had often spoke in support of the rebels who seriously threatened the four-decade rule of the Assad family before losing ground to his backers and own forces since last year.



Khatib returned to Syria earlier this year. Before he did, he outlined his dilemma in an interview with ESPN. “Every day before I sleep, maybe one hour, two hours, just thinking about this decision,” he said. “Whatever happens, 12 million Syrians will love me. Another 12 million Syrians will want to kill me.”

Khatib received a VIP welcome at Damascus airport in February. According to ESPN, another 38 players from the top two divisions of Syria’s football league did not, having been killed by state forces.

“It’s something all Syrians can come together on, but there is no escaping the government,” Tareq said. “The attention they’re giving the situation is more than just the fact that the Syrian team has gone this far. The regime is using the support and love the Syrians have for the team to harness support for itself. It’s like they’re telling people: ‘Look, we’re on the same side. We even got players who oppose us to play and we support them. We’re united.’ And I thought sports should be politically neutral.

“But I’m proud, I’m proud of how far they have come. I’m proud of the fact that the team holds opposition members. I’m proud that despite the fact that they’re broke, with no means to practise as other teams can, they made it this far.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syrians celebrate in Damascus after the game. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

Hashem, who has been critical of the Syrian leadership for most of the war, said: “This goes to show you how the government controls and uses every aspect in social life to make it about the regime. I support the team regardless. I can’t hold the players accountable because they’re playing ball, not weapons.

“I have friends with the opposition and I have friends who support the regime but overall everybody I know came together on this. Leave the regime’s disgusting ploy to make it about unity and normalcy. I can’t say I’m not proud of the win today.”

Akram, the third exile, said he too took comfort from the team’s achievement, despite feeling it had been co-opted by the country’s leaders.



“The Iranians didn’t feel disposed to do us any favours,” he said. “We showed them though. The team did us proud; it’s something we can unite behind. If the regime had any sense to it, they wouldn’t politicise the league.



“I do recall though the opening of a football stadium in Aleppo before the war. Even [the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan was there and there was a friendly match between the Turks and Syrians, which never made any headlines. No sports made headlines. Now the government is using all propaganda tools at its disposal to come out guns blazing.”

