New Zealand Footballers Offer to Move Iran WC Match New Zealand players offer to relocate the June 15, 2026 World Cup match vs Iran in Los Angeles; the 48-team tournament features 104 matches and 16 U.S. host cities (FIFA).

New Zealand Footballers Offer to Move Iran WC Match: New Zealand players offer to relocate the June 15, 2026 World Cup match vs Iran in Los Angeles; the 48-team tournament features 104 matches and 16 U.S. host… 👈 Read full analysis #WorldCup2026 #NewZealandFootball #IranFootball #FIFA #SoccerNews

Η εθνική ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου γυναικών του Ιράν επέστρεψε στην πατρίδα της μετά από ταξίδι μιας εβδομάδας – Δύο παίκτριες παραμένουν στην Αυστραλία Η πλειονότητα της εθνικής ομάδας ποδοσφαίρου γυναικών του Ιράν επέστρεψε στη χώρα, έπειτα από ένα ταξίδι μιας εβδομάδας από το Ασιατικό Κύπελλο, περνώντας τα σύνορα από την Τουρκία οδικώς.

Η εθνική ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου γυναικών του Ιράν επέστρεψε στην πατρίδα της μετά από ταξίδι μιας εβδομάδας – Δύο παίκτριες παραμένουν στην Αυστραλία
#CEMedia #IranFootball #press
open.substack.com/pub/sportsvi...

Iran's parliament speaker says women's football team will return home 'with pride' Iran's parliament speaker says the women's football team will return home "with pride" as the squad routes back via Oman after five of seven players reversed their asylum decisions in Australia.

Iran's parliament speaker says the women's football team will return home "with pride" as the squad routes back via Oman after five of seven players reversed their asylum decisions in Australia. Bne IntelliNews #WomensFootball #IranFootball #ProudTeam #FootballNews #Asylum

DIRECTO | MÁXIMA TENSIÓN EN TURQUÍA: LA SELECCIÓN FEMENINA DE IRÁN REGRESA AL PAÍS POR IGDIR

https://youtube.com/live/XbSoX5lUoYk

#directo #turquia #turkiye #iran #guerrairan #futbol #iranfootball #asiancup #ormuz #conflicto #alerta #negociostv #endirecto

Όμηροι του καθεστώτος: όταν το Ιράν πολεμά ακόμη και τις δικές του αθλήτριες Η υπόθεση της Zahra Ghanbari αποτελεί ένα ακόμα επεισόδιο από τις εξεγέρσεις στο Ιράν που ξεκίνησαν στα τέλη του 2025.

Όμηροι του καθεστώτος: όταν το Ιράν πολεμά ακόμη και τις δικές του αθλήτριες
#CEMedia #IranFootball #IranRevolution2026‌ #press
open.substack.com/pub/sportsvi...

Η εθνική γυναικών του Ιράν αποχωρεί από τη Μαλαισία μετά την ανατροπή στις αιτήσεις ασύλου Η εθνική ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου γυναικών του Ιράν ετοιμάζεται να αναχωρήσει από τη Μαλαισία για το Ομάν, ύστερα από ημέρες αβεβαιότητας που προκλήθηκαν όταν επτά μέλη της αποστολής ζήτησαν άσυλο στην Αυστρ...

Η εθνική γυναικών του Ιράν αποχωρεί από τη Μαλαισία μετά την ανατροπή στις αιτήσεις ασύλου
#CEMedia #IranFootball #press
open.substack.com/pub/sportsvi...

Iranian federation has told us they are going to the World Cup: AFC - Yes Punjab News AFC says Iran has not withdrawn from FIFA World Cup 2026 despite speculation; federation confirms team plans to compete.

Iranian federation has told us they are going to the World Cup: AFC yespunjab.com?p=229011

#IranFootball #FIFAWorldCup2026 #AFC #WindsorJohn #WorldCupNews #IranNationalTeam #GlobalFootball #USCanadaMexico2026 #FootballUpdate #SportsDiplomacy #BreakingNews

Three More Iranian Footballers Reverse Asylum Decision and Head Home Three more Iranian women's football players withdraw asylum offers, returning to Iran after initially accepting protection visas following national anthem protest.

Three More Iranian Footballers Reverse Asylum Decision and Head Home

#IranFootball #AsylumAustralia #WomensAsianCup #AusNews #Humanrights

thedailyperspective.org/article/2026-03-14-three...

Seven members of Iranian football team delegation granted asylum Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirms all but a few members of the delegation individually offered refuge as they passed through Sydney Airport.

ABC News Australia:
"Seven members of the Iranian women's football team have been granted asylum in Australia, with the government confirming all but a few members of the delegation were individually offered refuge as they embarked on their journey home.
#IranFootball

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Reckon the Iranian soccer team are heading to Sydney to catch EK413 leaving for Dubai at 9.45pm.
#IranFootball #WomensAsianCup

Australia's Test: Will the Government Protect Iran's Football Team? After refusing to sing the anthem in Australia, Iran's women's players face uncertain futures. Where is the government?

Australia's Test: Will the Government Protect Iran's Football Team?

#IranFootball #WomensAsianCup #AustraliaHumanRights #AusNews

thedailyperspective.org/article/2026-03-09-austr...

The Dilemma at Gold Coast: How to Protect the Iranian Players Eliminated from tournament, Iranian players risk persecution if they return home after refusing to sing national anthem in Australia.

The Dilemma at Gold Coast: How to Protect the Iranian Players

#IranFootball #WomensFootball #AsianCup #AusNews #GoldCoast

thedailyperspective.org/article/2026-03-09-the-d...

Chaos on the Gold Coast: Iran Women's Team Exit Marked by Protest Iranian footballers surrounded by 200 protesters after losing to Philippines at Asian Cup on Gold Coast, raising questions about player safety.

Chaos on the Gold Coast: Iran Women's Team Exit Marked by Protest

#IranFootball #AusNews #AsianCup2026 #GoldCoast

thedailyperspective.org/article/2026-03-08-chaos...

Rent, Kleptocracy and the Turf Mafia: How Stadium Grass Became a Licence to Steal Iran’s “turf mafia” uses opaque stadium contracts, inflated costs and engineered turf failures to delay renovations, displace clubs and convert football infrastructure into a lucrative rent-seeking, kleptocratic network. In Iran, two private companies have effectively turned stadium grass into a rent machine. Together they form what insiders call the “turf mafia”: firms that, through opaque contracts and deliberate mismanagement, ruin pitches, prolong renovations, and siphon public money out of football. Ten weeks into the 25th season of Iran’s Premier League, two of the country’s most popular clubs, Persepolis and Esteghlal, still cannot use Azadi Stadium. Tractor Tabriz is locked out of Yadegar-e Emam, Esteghlal Khuzestan is homeless, ChadorMelo Yazd only recently returned to its own ground after eight weeks, and Sepahan Isfahan also plays on substandard turf in Naghsh-e Jahan and Bagh-e Ferdows. Behind these scattered crises lies a concentrated network of contractors and political patrons. Azadi’s endless renovation The renovation of Azadi, Iran’s largest stadium, is now officially planned to continue until the end of 1405 (March 2027). The contractor is Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, which in 1402 (March 2023–March 2024) took over a project initially valued at 1.9 trillion tomans (around 23 million dollars at the then-prevailing unofficial rate) – while promising to finish in five months. That promise has evaporated. Esteghlal is playing its Asian fixtures in Qaleh Hassan Khan, and the Tehran derby has been moved to Arak, while officials in Tehran now speak casually of works running for more than 30 months, six times the original timeline. In Dey 1403 (December 2024/January 2025), former sports facilities chief Hossein Tala described the contract as 18 months long, starting from Tir 1403 (June/July 2024). Meanwhile, the contractor briefly claimed that most of the work was complete – a claim exposed on 30 Esfand 1403 (20 March 2025), when the Iran–UAE match at Azadi was halted just ten minutes after kick-off due to a power outage. Officials later tried to blame rainwater. The budget has ballooned alongside the delays. In 1404 (March 2025–March 2026), the contract sum was revised from 1.9 to 3.26 trillion tomans (roughly 23 to 39–40 million dollars). On 7 Aban 1404 (29 October 2025), the head of the Sports Venues Development and Equipment Company confirmed that, at current prices, the final bill will reach around 3.2 trillion tomans. In a separate report on 24 Mehr 1404 (16 October 2025), “Football 360” suggested the total could approach 40 million dollars. Hybrid turf, familiar names Tabriz and Isfahan, the two other major hubs of men’s football, face a parallel pattern. Tractor Tabriz, Iran’s only representative in the Asian Elite League and a serious contender for the later stages, is banned from its home stadium because the Yadegar-e Emam pitch has been destroyed during a botched “upgrade”. The contractor there, Simkar Moghan, won a 64-billion-toman deal to install hybrid turf imported from Turkey – after normal tender procedures were bypassed. On 13 Aban 1404 (4 November 2025), Tabnak published documents showing that the contract’s value had been inflated from an initial 17–25 billion tomans up to 64 billion, and that government officials had personally recommended Simkar Moghan. The investigation also linked the Yadegar-e Emam project to the same individual the Ministry of Sport had introduced, in a letter in Shahrivar 1403 (August/September 2024), to Mehdi Taj for the Naghsh-e Jahan turf contract in Isfahan. That deal was signed for 50.8 billion tomans, with an automatic price adjustment margin of up to 25 percent; by the third invoice, 64 billion tomans had been requested. Tabnak named Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali and East Azerbaijan sports chief Habib Maqsoudi as key actors and asked a simple question: why were public procurement rules abandoned, and how was such a major project quietly handed to a company now exposed for its performance? The company behind these projects, Aran Simakar Moghan, was founded in 1399 (March 2020–March 2021). Its CEO, Vahid Akbar-Manadi, took over in Ordibehesht 1404 (April/May 2025). Stadium turf installation is not even listed in its official registration documents. Sedros Sabz: from monopoly to mafia Akbar-Manadi denies that Aran Simakar is a front for Sedros Sabz, the company run by Farshad Ostadjoo, long presented as the “exclusive representative” of a German turf brand in Iran. But photos and video of Ostadjoo at Yadegar-e Emam alongside Tractor officials undermine that denial. Ostadjoo’s track record goes back at least to 1396 (2017–2018), when he led the turf replacement at Naghsh-e Jahan. The pitch deteriorated quickly; club officials and local media blamed roots being laid too close to the surface. Ostadjoo rejected this and argued that maintenance should also have been handed to his company. Sedros Sabz at the time priced annual turf maintenance at Naghsh-e Jahan at 180 million tomans. Sedros Sabz presents itself as a family firm founded in 1356 (1977–1978) to build and maintain natural and artificial pitches. Its portfolio includes major stadiums in Mashhad, Esfahan, Shiraz, Qazvin, Ilam, Karaj, Gorgan, Bojnourd and Qa’em Shahr, making it the main grass contractor for the Ministry of Sport, the Football Federation and many provincial associations. In Mehr 1403 (September/October 2024), Tabnak – without naming Sedros Sabz directly – described it as one of two “turf mafias” in Iran. According to that report, if a stadium’s pitch has not been laid by one of these firms, they work to ensure it fails early and must be replaced. The case of Pars Stadium in Shiraz was cited: despite having a boiler room, its heating system was activated only once for 14 days over two winters, and not at all the following winter, accelerating ice damage to the turf. Sedros Sabz has also exported its model to Iraq, taking on the Al-Zawraa Stadium project, which ended up with problems similar to Iranian pitches. Yet in media appearances, Ostadjoo continues to present himself as the head of the country’s only “specialised” turf company with “German consultants”, blaming poor maintenance, weather and non-expert staff for the failures. Kleptocracy on grass The cumulative outcome of Sedros Sabz’s “expertise” and the work of its cover companies has been a string of national embarrassments for Iranian football: unplayable pitches, displaced clubs, cancelled or disrupted matches, and huge extra costs for the public purse. What remains untouched is the network itself. Neither the Ministry of Sport and Youth nor oversight bodies have seriously examined the special relationship between this “professor” of rent and the sports bureaucracy, or the damage their collusion inflicts on public funds. Instead, contracts continue to flow toward the same cluster of firms. In today’s Iran, even a rectangle of grass has become a textbook example of how kleptocracy turns public infrastructure into private loot.

Rent, Kleptocracy and the Turf Mafia: How Stadium Grass Became a Licence to Steal #IranFootball #Kleptocracy

Iran To Boycott FIFA World Cup Final Draw Over U.S. Visa Denial TEHRAN, Nov 29 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s Football Federation will boycott the final draw ceremony, for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, after the United States refused to grant visas to several key members of its delegation, as the draw is scheduled for Dec 5, in Washington, D.C. Making the announcement yesterday, federation spokesman, Amir Mehdi Alavi told state-run IRIB TV that, the decision was reached after necessary inquiries, internal discussions, and consultations with Iran’s Ministry of Sports and Youth and Foreign Ministry. He condemned the U.S. actions as “non-sporting.” Alavi confirmed that FIFA was informed of the boycott and that its […]

Iran To Boycott FIFA World Cup Final Draw Over U.S. Visa Denial #FIFAWC #IranFootball #VisaDenial #WorldCup2026 #IranBoycott

⚽ A Win for Inclusivity: Female Fans at Iranian Cup Fixture
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has welcomed the attendance of female spectators at a recent Iranian Hazfi Cup match, calling it an "encouraging development." 👏

#FIFA #IranFootball #WomensRights #FootballForAll