The name change, driven by the Basque Football Federation, was denounced by politicians from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), including the Lehendakari, Juan José Ibarretxe, and also the main Spanish political parties such as the Partido Popular (PP) and PSOE. For this reason the Basque Football Federation proposed returning to the team's previous name, 'Euskadi' (Euskadiko Selekzioa), for the match scheduled for December 2008 against Iran. 165 Basque players signed a statement announcing that they would not play unless the team was called 'Euskal Herria'. The controversy went beyond the sports arena and against this statement were positioned many political parties such as the PNV, PSE-PSOE and PP, and supporting it were Eusko Alkartasuna, Ezker Batua and Eusko Abertzale Ekintza. At the heart of this dispute were the meanings of the two terms 'Euskadi' and 'Euskal Herria'. For the politicians of the PNV who favoured the name 'Euskadi', they saw this as the historic name used by the Basque football team since the 1930s and geographically they said it always included the Spanish Basque Country, the French Basque Country and Navarre (from where the players are selected), but to the players and the politicians supporting them, only the term 'Euskal Herria' had this geographic meaning and to them 'Euskadi' only referred to the Spanish Basque Country. This difference of opinion encompassed the nuances of the names, their history known or unknown, and changing public opinions towards what name should be used when referring to all people of Basque culture. In the end the match was cancelled.