Football in Iran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Azadi Football Stadium is the biggest venue for Iranian football (soccer). Its also the world's 3rd largest soccer stadium.Football in Iran is quite possibly the most popular sport, with only wrestling being able to match its popularity. Football has been a part of life for Iranians for many decades now and is played in schools, alleys, streets and football clubs nationwide.
History of football in Iran
Football was an unknown sport in Iran until British sailors and workers introduced the game in 1907. At that time they were working at port cities Bushire, Khorramshahr, Bandar Abbas and major oil refineries such as Masjed Soleiman in the province of Khuzestan. The British played among themselves at first, as 22 men in shorts chasing after a plastic ball seemed to be more of a joke than a game to Iranians. The skepticism was short-lived and eventually the Iranian workers started playing as well.
1907 was the year that British Ambassador in Tehran by the name of Cecil Spring-Rice founded Iran's first Footbal Tournament which had only 3 teams Embassy of Great Britain,Imperial Bank of Persia and Indo-European Telegraph Company.
In the same year, Tehran Football Association Club, an organising body for arranging football matches was established. However all teams were made up of British residents of Tehran, although when teams didn't have enough players they sometimes chose Iranian bystanders to come on the field and play. The first Iranian player was Karim Zandi who played from 1908 to 1916. He was the reason other Iranians became motivated and interested in the sport. It became every young Iranian's dream to play alongside these British residents of Tehran. All matches were played at around Mashq Square.
In 1910 Dr. Samuel M. Jordan, the principal of AmericanSchool (currently known as AlborzHigh School) in Tehran, introduced football as part of the school's curriculum. Four years later 1914, start of World War One put an end to these football matches and football programs.
Then in 1918 football matches recommenced and 1920 saw the establishment of Iran's first football club called Iran Club. The squad consisted of Karim Zandi, Khan-Salar brothers, Amir-Aslani brothers, Mohammad Ali Shokooh, Azizollah Afkkhami, Reza Kalantar, Sheybani, Hasan Meftah, Herand, Galustyan, Khajeh-Noori, Reza Rabizadeh,Hambarson,Ashrafi. These group of players won the Tehran Association Cup in 1923. In the same year a new club was established called Tehran Club, this followed by creation of Armenian Sports Club and Toofan Club, and in 1925 Tehran Club reached the final and defeated British Select Team of Tehran 2-1.
In 1925 Tehran XI(selected players from Tehran Club, Toofan Club and Armenian Sports) traveled across the border to Baku, USSR, this was the first away football match for an Iranian team. This Tehran Select team is the predessor of Iran's national football team.
The results were as follow:
Tehran XI 0 Baku XI 2
Tehran XI 0 Baku Faculty of Petroleum 0
Tehran XI 1 Kolony Baku 4
After this Football started becoming more popular and more clubs were founded such as Tehran Pars F.C. and Kian F.C.. Some footballers even moved abroad such as Hossein Sadaghiani and Khan-Salar brothers who played in Belgian Football Leagues. Hossein Sadaghiani for instance after returning to Iran from Europe, became active in sharing the knowledge of the game and also with growth of football, he coached football teams of University of Tehran and Ferdowsi University of Mashad.
Teams from Khuzestan were always the most successful was the powerhouse the 50's and early 60's, but the game had become very popular in Iran by then. Tehran slowly started becoming the football capital of Iran, and numerous great clubs emerged from there. Shahin FC, Oghab FC, and Taj, were all Tehran teams established in the mid 1940's which even to this day have a great following. As the number of club teams increased the need for a national league became apparent, and ever since 1960, with the exception of a few years, a nationwide football league has existed in Iran. The Takhte Jamshid Cup, Azadegan League and the IPL being the most important ones.
The very first match that the Iranian national football team played was on January 1, 1941 away at Afghanistan. The first two decades of international football for Iran was uneventful, but the 60's and 70's was when Iran established itself as one of Asia's top sides. They won the Asian Cup in 1968, 1972 and 1976, the 1974 Asian Games football tournament, qualified for the 1964,1972,1976 and 1980 Olympic Games and most importantly qualified for World Cup 1978 in Argentina.
The Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War soon occurred and football was downplayed, but the national team has made a comeback in recent years, qualifying for the 1998 Football World Cup and recording their first win ever in World Cup (against the United States) and also qualifying for the 2006 tournament in Germany.
Football structure
The league and national team are administrated by the Iranian FA known as the I.R.I.F.F. The I.R.I.F.F has also been a member of FIFA since 1945 and the Asian Football Confederation since 1958.The Federation receives most of its budget from the Iranian government's Physical Education Department, and also from sponsorships with various companies.
Attendance at football matches
Iran's Islamic law imposes tight restrictions on women. They need permission from their male guardian to travel to foreign countries, and since the 1979 Islamic revolution, have not been allowed to attend public sporting events, specifically football. While women were allowed to eventually attend most other sporting events, the football ban remained. This ban was lifted in April 2006 by the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad government, which ordered the country's sports organisations to provide special seating sections for women and families to attend football matches. [1], [2] However, he was quickly overruled by Grand Ayatollahs and the clerical establishment
Azadi Stadium.
The Azadi Stadium (Persian: استاديوم آزادی) is Iran's national and largest stadium. The Azadi stadium officially has a capacity of 100,000 people [1] [2] and was built to host the 1974 Asian Games. The stadium is part of the much larger Azadi Sports Complex, and is surrounded by a rowing river, football training pitches, weightlifting complex, swimming facilities and indoor volleyball and futsal courts, among many other amenities.
Azadi Stadium is where most of Iran's national games, and where Persepolis F.C.'s and Esteghlal F.C.'s Iran Pro League matches are played.
In 2002, the lower level of the stadium had seats installed, the pitch was replanted along with the installation of an underground heating system. Stadium management also plans to later install seats in the upper level of the stadium. The renovations were completed in 2003, reducing the capacity of the stadium to 100,000 (Originally 110,000 capacity) as the lower level of the stadium was refurnished with 35,000 seats. Despite its reduced capacity, Azadi Stadium has been filled over capacity at times such as the Iran-Japan World Cup 2006 qualification match in March 2005. In 2004 a large jumbotron television was added, replacing the original scoreboard. This giant screen with a total area of about 300 square meters and screen area of 104 square meters (20m in 7.5m) is one of the biggest in the world.
The stadium was once called the Aryamehr Stadium in honor of the former Shah of Iran but then changed to Azadi Stadium after the Iranian Revolution. The stadium is located in the West of Tehran, and is easily accessible for most people living in the city. Opposing teams often find it difficult to play their best game, when the stadium is full, as the noise level becomes very high.
Samen Stadium
The Samen Stadium Persian: استاديوم ثامن الائمهis located in Mashhad, Iran. It is used by F.C. Aboomoslem, an Iranian football club who play in Iran's Premier Football League. It is also used for track and field events, concerts and other local football teams. It has a capacity of 35,000 and the first phase of the project was completed in 2004 after more than 10 years. The latter phases will be completed in a few years time and will increase the stadiums capacity. It has 15,000 seats and the rest of the stadium has benches for seating.
Coordinates: 36°25′33″N 59°23′02″E
This article about a Iranian building or structure related topic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Naghsh-e-Jahan
Full name Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium
Location Kavah Street
10th Kilometer
Isfahan
Iran
Built 2003
Opened 2003
Owner Iran Physical Education Organization
Surface Grass
Tenants Sepahan
Capacity 50,000 (Football)
The Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium (Persian: استاديوم نقش جهان) is a multi-use stadium in Isfahan, Iran. It is currently used for football matches. The stadium was built in 2003 and holds 50,000 in a three-tier configuration. It is currently used by Sepahan, an Iranian football team in Iran's Premier Football League.
Women's football in Iran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Women's Football in Iran)
Jump to: navigation, search
Association football in Iran is very popular. Football has been a part of life for Iranians for many decades now and is played in schools, alleys, streets and football clubs nationwide. Women in Iran are increasingly inclined to play football, and with this increasing popularity it is only a matter of time before a more secure infrastructure develops. The Iran women's national football team competes internationally.
History
Women’s football in Iran started in 1970. Women had the personal ambition of participating in male football competitions in alleys and streets, so they took part in some men’s football games. During that time, when numerous trainers participated in the top grade of FIFA's training courses in Japan, they observed the Japan women's national football team's games against female teams from Korea, Singapore and India. That was the stimulus to the administrators of women’s football in Iran. Since 1970 serious measures were made in order to reach appropriate standards. Taj was the first club to train women. Thereafter, women took part first in football training and then in football teams such as Taj, Deyhim, Persepolis FC, Oghab FC and Khasram. By organizing different competitions between those teams, the best players were selected and placed in the first Iranian women's national team. This team was composed of former volleyball players, basketball players and athletes aged from 12 to 18. They started to train more seriously as sport magazine published the news of their progress, then gradually a huge number of female fans arose to support the team. With the help of educational institutions across the country, talented youngsters were scouted. As time went on, teams were selected, and eventually in 1971 a competition was organised by a women's sport magazine and the travel company Scandinavian Airlines System (S.A.S) under the supervision of the Football Federation, for that occasion the Italy women's national football team was invited to Iran and had two games against Taj and a team called Tehran in the Amjadieh stadium. Women's football continued to grow until the Iranian revolution in 1979.
[Recent
In 1993 a rebound was made for women's football in Iran, in the shape of futsal, a form of indoor football, started by AlzahraUniversity. At first it faced the refusal by the sport's administration, however because of the passion shown by the students towards football, the university changed the law and the first unofficial female competition was organized since the Iranian revolution. In this competition 10 teams participated, most of them belong to AlzahraUniversity and the rest were from other national universities. Women's football activity continued to grow until finally, in 1997 the physical education organization formed a women's futsal committee and since then officially sport clubs have begun to encourage women's futsal teams in Iran.
Since 2001 the first national female students' competition was officially organised under the supervision of the ministry of education, research and technology in AlzahraUniversity. This competition was made by 12 teams from different universities.
In 2004 subsequent efforts were not made to provide facilities for women. Occasionally female teams train with the Islamic veil in stadiums in small groups on good quality pitches. An attempt has also been made to allow women into stadiums at the same time as men. But up to now women football players have never trained on pitches of good quality. Nowadays only indoor facilities are accessible to women footballers. Until 2005 many competitions have been organized with the participation of foreign teams, however due to Sharia law, Iranian women footballers can only participate in competitions which are held in female-only stadiums.
"
Futsal in Iran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Futsal in Iran is conducted under the aegis of the Futsal Commission of the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation. Futsal is a popular and growing sport in the country.
Iran has a strong national futsal team, which has won the Asian Futsal Championship for nine times out of the ten times held. Iran's nationwide Futsal Super League is considered as the strongest futsal league in Asia and currently Iran's Shensa FSC holds the continent's Futsal Club Championship title.
Iran has some of the best futsal players in the continent and also in the world including Vahid Shamsaee, world's top international futsal scorer with over 320 goals scored so far. With many highly talented young futsal players Iran's futsal has a very promising future on the international scale.
Futsal teams in Iran partly enjoy their success due to the style of soccer played outside, Gol Koochik. This is the kind of soccer most Iranians enjoy playing. Great dribbling skills are needed and players need to learn to maneuver the ball quickly
Azadegan League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Iran Football's 1st Division)
Jump to: navigation, search
Azadegan League
Azadegan League 2007-08
Founded
1991
Nation
Iran
Promotion To
IPL
Relegation To
2nd Division
Number of Teams
24
Cups
Hazfi Cup
Current Champions (2006/07)
Shirin Faraz F.C.
Website
This article is about the Iranian 1st division league. For the top division league prior to 2001, see Iran Pro League.
The Azadegan League (Persian: ليگ آزادگان) is the second-highest division overall in the Iranian football league system after the Iran Pro League.
The Azadegan League consists of two subdivisions, each having 12 teams. The top two teams in each group have a playoff tournament at the end of the season in which home and away games take place. The top two point getters are then promoted to the IPL, with the top team being declared the Azadegan League champion. The eleventh and twelfth placed teams in the groups are automatically relegated to the 2nd division. Sometimes the playoff match format is not used and one match takes place between the teams on a neutral ground instead.
The top two teams from the two 2nd division groups are promoted to the Azadegan League.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Azadegan League clubs
2.1 Azadegan League members for 2007–08
2.2 Group A
2.3 Group B
3 League Champions
3.1 2nd Division Champions
3.2 Azadegan League Champions, 2001-
4 See also
5 External links
History
The league was founded in 1989 as the Qods League. In 1991 it was renamed the Azadegan League in honor of the Iranian prisoners of war who were released. Pas was its first champion. For the first time in ten years Iran finally had a national league again. The number of teams playing in the league varied from year to year. Pas and Saipa dominated the league in the first four years. Pas and Esteghlal both were able to capture Asian Club Championships in the early 1990s. By the mid-90s Persepolis and Esteghlal regained their dominant form. The league championship every year between 1995-2001 was either Esteghlal or Persepolis. The two clubs always had the most talented players in Iran, the national team consisted mainly of Persepolis and Esteghlal players, and some of the greatest talents Iranian football has seen were discovered during this period. Up until 2001 the league was the top football league in Iran, but that changed when the Iranian Football Federation decided to start a professional league. The IPL was created and the Azadegan League became the second highest division in the Iranian football league system.
The 2007/08 edition of the league is set to start on October 27, 2007.
[Azadegan League clubs