Rainbow flags await Egypt and Iran at awkward World Cup Pride Match

Rainbow flags await Egypt and Iran at awkward World Cup Pride MatchImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Rainbow flags - a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, diversity, and social inclusion - will be flown inside the Seattle StadiumByShaimaa Khalil, North America Correspondent and Regan Morris, BBC News senior journalistPublished1 minute agoIran's head coach Amir Ghalenoei says he will not address "things that do not exist" as his team prepares to play Egypt in the Pride Match in Seattle.Local organisers have designated the game as a Pride Match because it falls on the Friday before Pride Weekend, which celebrates diversity and the LGBTQ+ community.Drag performances and Pride watch parties are planned across the city while rainbow flags - a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, diversity, and social inclusion - will fly inside the stadium. Despite complaints from Iran and Egypt, countries where homosexuality is illegal, the event will still take place.Both teams say they are purely focused on football, with both coaches avoiding questions about gay pride at their news conferences before the match, which kicks off at 04:00 BST on Saturday."We are here to play football, not for other things," Ghalenoei said. "As for things that are forbidden in our religion and do not exist, we do not want to talk about them. We only talk about the match, football and the beauty of the game."Across the street, Seattle host committee officials insisted that the timing of the Pride Match was not designed to provoke. Pride weekend had been planned before the draw paired Egypt and Iran, they told the BBC, adding that the answer to discomfort is curiosity rather than retreat."We're thrilled," Hedda McLendon, from Seattle's World Cup organising committee, told the BBC after the city's 'Pride Match Day' press briefing. "It might not be how you want to live or how things are in your country but this is something that makes us unique and we...