The nationwide anti-regime protests began after 22-year-old Mahsa Zhina Amini died in police custody on 16 September.
More than 250 people have been killed by the excessive violence of the security forces and 14,000 have been arrested, according to several human rights groups.
And as recently as a week ago, Iran issued the first death penalty following the recent widespread protests.
The events in the country have led many to call for Iran to be thrown out of the World Cup, but today they enter the tournament with a match against England.
"We support them"
Before the match, team captain Ehsan Hajsafi has greeted the people that the national team is behind them.
- They should know that we support them and that we sympathize with them.
We must realize that it is not right in our country.
Our people are unhappy.
We are here but that does not mean that we should be their voice and that we should not respect them.
What we have, we have thanks to them.
We must fight.
We have to perform and score some goals and respect the brave people of Iran, he said.