Barely one week before World Cup begins, everything seems clear for Iran to participate in the competition, playing their matches in the United States, even in the context of a war that appears to be stalling. On Monday, Iran announced their squad for World Cup, and there is a shocking omission: their star forward Sardar Azmoun, who plays for Dubai from UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli has been left out... because of showing disloyalty with the Iranian regime.
Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoei already dropped him from the team in March, according to ESPN, because of a social media post in which he appeared with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister, while Iran was targeting the country during the war against US and Israel.
Azmoun, 31, has scored 57 goals in 91 international matches since making his debut in 2014. He was one of the few Iranian players who made a successful career in Europe, playing for Bayer Leverkusen and Roma before joining Shabab Al Ahli.
Iran squad for World Cup 2026:
Goalkeepers:
Alireza Beiranvand (Tractor)
Hossein Hosseini (Sepahan)
Payam Niazmand (Persepolis)
Defenders:
Danial Eiri (Malavan)
Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan)
Saleh Hardani (Esteghlal)
Hossein Kanaani (Persepolis)
Shoja Khalilzadeh (Tractor)
Milad Mohammadi (Persepolis)
Ali Nemati (Foolad)
Ramin Rezaeian (Foolad)
Midfielders:
Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal)
Saeid Ezatolahi (Shabab Al-Ahli)
Mehdi Ghayedi (Al-Nasr)
Saman Ghoddos (Kalba)
Mohammad Ghorbani (Al-Wahda)
Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Dender)
Mohammad Mohebi (Rostov)
Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia (Esteghlal)
Mehdi Torabi (Tractor)
Aria Yousefi (Sepahan)
Forwards:
Ali Alipour (Persepolis)
Dennis Dargahi (Standard Liege)
Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (Tractor)
Mehdi Taremi (Olympiakos)
Shahriar Moghanlou (Kalba)