Football is the most popular sport in Iran, with wrestling and volleyball as close contenders. Football has been a part of life for Iranians for many decades now and is played in schools, streets, and football clubs nationwide.
Esteghlal Football Club (استقلال ; commonly known as Esteghlal, is the oldest Iranian professional football club based in Tehran that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League. The club was founded in 1945 as 'The Cyclists' and was known as Tâj between 1949 and 1979. The club is part of the multisport club Esteghlal Athletic and Cultural Company of Iran. They were the first team to reach 1,000 points in the Persian Gulf Pro League.
The Azadi Stadium, opened as the Aryamehr Stadium, is an all-seater football stadium in Tehran, Iran. The stadium was designed by Abdol Aziz Mirza Farman-Farmaian Architects and Associates (AFFA) with other parts of the sports complex based on plans by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, an American architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was inaugurated on 17 October 1971 by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran; it is currently self-owned by Esteghlal and Persepolis. It is also the home stadium of the Iran national football team. It has a capacity of 78,116 spectators, as the result of conversion to all-seater stadium. The stadium is part of the larger Azadi Sport Complex.
Many sports in Iran are both traditional and modern. Tehran, for example, was the first city in West Asia to host the Asian Games in 1974, and continues to host and participate in major international sporting events to this day. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Iran's national sport, however today, football is the most popular sport in Iran. Because of economic sanctions, the annual government's budget for sport was about $80 million in 2010 or about $1 per person.
The Russia men's national volleyball team is governed by the Russian Volleyball Federation and took part in international volleyball competitions.
The Brazil men's national volleyball team is governed by the Confederação Brasileira de Voleibol(Brazilian Volleyball Confederation) and takes part in international volleyball competitions. Brazil has won three gold medals at the Olympic Games, has won the World Championship three times, and the World League nine times. Brazil is the national volleyball team that has won the most titles overall, and also the team that has won most titles outside their regional competition. The team is sometimes referred to as volleyball's "Dream Team" specially in reference to its winning streak period under coach Bernardo Rezende. Currently Brazil is ranked seventh on the FIVB World Rankings.
The Germany men's national volleyball team represents Germany in international volleyball competitions. It is governed by the German Volleyball Association. Germany won the gold medal at the 1970 World Championship as East Germany and the bronze medal at the 2014 World Championship.
Paykan Tehran Volleyball Club is an Iranian professional volleyball team based in Tehran, Iran. The team is owned by Iran Khodro, an Iranian automobile manufacturer, and it competes in the Iranian Volleyball Super League. Paykan VC is the volleyball club of the multisport Paykan Sport Club.
Mir Saeid Marouf Lakerani is an Iranian volleyball setter. He was the captain of the Iranian national team. He was named best setter at the 2014 World League and 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic qualifying tournaments, as well as most valuable player at the 2013 Asian Championship. He participated in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He was voted Iranian Sportsmen of the year for (2015–16) of the Iranian calendar by an Iranian
Amir Ghafour is an Iranian volleyball player who plays as an opposite spiker for Iranian club Shahdab Yazd. He is a former member of the Iranian national team.
Iran competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's return in 1948 after having made their debut in 1900, Iranian athletes had attended in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, with the exception of the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics.
The Asian Men's Volleyball Championship is an international volleyball competition in Asia and Oceania contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), the sport's continent governing body. The initial gap between championships was four years, but since 1987 they have been awarded every two years. The top three teams qualified for the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship. The current champion is Japan, which won its tenth title at the 2023 tournament.
Porya Yali is an Iranian volleyball player who plays as an opposite spiker for the Iranian national team and Iranian club Paykan Tehran.
Ali Shafiei is an Iranian volleyball player who plays as a middle blocker for the Iranian national team and Labaniat Haraz.
Ahsanollah Shirkavand is an Iranian volleyball libero. After playing at the Asian Youth Games, he was invited to the Iran Men's National Volleyball Team and played for it from 1998 to 2000 who finished fourth at the Asian Men's Volleyball Championship. Shirkavand continued playing for the National Team under the coaching of Julio Velasco until 2013, when he was forced to leave national games due to injury.
Mostafa Karkhaneh is a former Iranian volleyball player and coach. He is known for his successful career as a coach, building the Iranian national volleyball team into an international contender. Throughout his career, he managed all national Iranian volleyball teams, including the youth, junior, and senior teams, helping many young players develop their skills.
Mahmoud Afshardoust is the secretary general of the Iranian Volleyball Federation, a former player and coach of the Iran men's national volleyball team. Afshardoust was invited to the national youth team of Iran in 1991, and in 1993 and 1994 he was the captain of the national youth team. In 1994, he became the most valuable (MVP) youth player in Asia. He was invited to the senior national team in 1995, and was in the senior national team until September 2003, won a silver medal in the 2002 Asian Games, and a bronze medal in the 2003 Asian Championship (China). Afshardoust was the coach of the Iranian national team from 2008 to 2010. He won a silver medal at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, and a silver medal at the 2009 Asian Championships in the Philippines. He was introduced as the Secretary General of the Volleyball Federation of Iran, and resigned from this position in April 2016.
The 2022 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship was the 22nd edition of the Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship, an annual international men's volleyball club tournament organized by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with Islamic Republic of Iran Volleyball Federation (I.R.I.V.F.).
Alireza Jadidi is an Iranian volleyball player. He played for the first time on a national team and got fifth place in the 2005 FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship. In 2007, he was once again invited to the national team by Jovica Cvetković and got first place in the 2007 Asian Youth Boys Volleyball Championship. He won the world championship with a junior volleyball team in 2007 FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship, in Mexico. He became Asian champion with Iran team 2008 Asian Junior Men's Volleyball Championship and he was the best blocker at that tournament. In 2009 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship. Iran finished in seventh place in Pune, India Alireza Jadidi added 12 points in the victory. Jadidi Became the best blocker on the senior team in 2012 Asian Men's Volleyball Cup. He was named 3rd best blocker among world clubs at 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship, in Brazil. He was chosen as best blocker of Iranian Volleyball Super League for several time years. He was a member of Iran men's national volleyball team.
Erfan Norouzi is a volleyball player from Iran. Norouzi, who started his professional activity in volleyball at the age of 13, after 4 years of amateur activity in this field and achieving success in the youth age group, he was able to become the champion in the city and provincial competitions and became proud.
