The Playbook: How Syria’s brutal Assad regime used football to maintain power

Welcome to The Playbook, an explainer series from HRF’s Sports & Dictators program that explores the intersection of sports and politics in authoritarian regimes and decodes the disturbing narratives behind the games we love. 

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In December 2024, Syrian rebels captured Damascus, ousting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and ending more than half a century of the Assad family’s totalitarian control of Syria, which began when his father Hafez al-Assad seized power in a coup d’état in 1970. 

Bashar al-Assad weaponized football to boost the international image of his regime and then to present a facade of normalcy amid a civil war. 

Football Under Assad 

Syrian football rose to prominence only after Bashar al-Assad assumed the presidency in July 2000. While Syria had celebrated victories in the 1957 Arab Games and the 1987 Mediterranean Games—and Hafez al-Assad had provided financial rewards and social prestige to medal-winning athletes—these measures fell short of inspiring aspiring players to pursue sports as a career. Bashar, upon succeeding his father, prioritized significant investments in Syria’s domestic league, seeing it as a platform to bolster the nation’s image on the international stage.

With each added investment, Assad exercised more control over football. His influence over the sport led to increased nepotism, corruption, and contributed to aggravating existing ethnic tensions between teams of different backgrounds. A notable example of this was the clashes that took place in 2004 between Kurdish and Arab football fans during a match in the northeastern city of Qamishli. Security forces within the stadium responded by firing at the Kurdish crowd, reportedly killing seven. The fact that the regime ‘sided’ with Arab supporters was widely perceived as the umpteenth form of discrimination against Syria’s Kurds, following a long string of culturally and politically repressive policies.

However, Assad’s use of football-related propaganda dramatically shifted in purpose following the 2011 uprising across Syria. Fearing mass unity and opportunities for large gatherings, he suspended the 2010-11 season while government authorities rounded up any athletes who appeared to be part of the newly formed opposition. Many players were tortured and executed in regime prisons. Among those was Jihad Qassab, the former captain of the Syrian national team who was arrested and tortured to death for protesting against the Assad regime. 

Several of Syria’s football stadiums were also transformed into military barracks and detention centres during the civil war. This included the Abbasiyyin stadium, which hosted hundreds of soldiers, as well as tanks and military vehicles that would go on to commit countless war crimes against Syrian nationals. 

Over the next few years, Assad continued to use football for political gain. In 2012, he hosted the Syrian national football team at his palace on Mt. Mezzeh and congratulated them on winning the West Asian Football Federation Championship. Assad rewarded each player with an apartment, a government job, and 150,000 Syrian Pounds (approximately $1,400 at the time).

Celebrating with a team that included Mosab Balhus, the Homs-based goalkeeper who was arrested on suspicion of “sheltering rebel fighters,” was a strategic move to present Assad as a magnanimous and gracious leader willing to forgive past transgressions. 

After regaining control of Aleppo in 2016, Assad hosted a football derby between two local teams in January 2017 in an attempt to present the facade of normalcy in the war-torn city. The match was broadcast on state television in an attempt to emphasize the dramatic shift in local sentiment following the major offensive that allowed the Syrian government to regain complete control of Aleppo from rebel forces for the first time since the city was initially divided in 2012. State media interviewed players, coaches, and fans from both teams, all of whom praised the “return of happiness to the souls of the people of Aleppo.” 

Throughout the civil war, Assad continued to rely on football as a means to exert political influence and to present the facade of wartime unity and strength. Several prominent players were forced to flee the country while others were forced into roles as regime puppets. On occasion, Assad would host the national team at one of his palaces, where they would pose for strategic photo-ops. After qualifying for second round of the AFC Asian Cup tournament in 2024 for the first time in its history, the Syrian national team posted a video of themselves on the team bus chanting Assad’s name, further whitewashing the dictator’s atrocious reputation. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh2KbL2GFCo

Nevertheless, when faced with a lightning rebel offensive in December 2024, Assad and his family fled to Moscow, Russia, putting an end to more than half-a-century of totalitarian rule. It also led to significant changes in Syrian football. 

Football in post-Assad Syria 

Among the earliest noticeable changes that took place in post-Assad Syria was in football. In the hours following the tyrant’s ouster, the Syrian Football Association (SFA) unveiled a new logo on its official Facebook page, swapping its regime-inspired red logo to a green logo with three red stars, reflecting the green “independence flag” used by Syrian opposition factions during the civil war. 

The SFA also unveiled a new team outfit, based on the green independence flag. “The first historical change that will take place in the history of Syrian sports, away from personal connections, patronage and corruption,” read the statement on Facebook.

FIFA officially recognized the Syrian revolution flag as a replacement for the former regime’s flag. The updated flag made its first appearance during December’s FIFA Congress announcing the hosts of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, appearing behind FIFA President Gianni Infantino among the flags of member states. 

The Syrian national team’s official social media account also shared several posts celebrating the downfall of the regime. “Long Live a Free Syria,” read one of the posts. 

Several of Syria’s football clubs released a joint statement following Assad’s fall demanding the creation of a ministry of sports to replace the General Sports Federation long affiliated with Assad’s Baath party. 

“We, all the sports clubs in free Syria, demand the establishment of a ministry of sports to protect athletes and sports facilities and ensure freedom of sports media.”

Karim Zidan is HRF’s Sports & Dictators fellow