Futsal in Iran is conducted under the auspices of the Futsal Commission of the

Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) ( fa, فدراسیون فوتبال جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Federâsion-è Futbâl-è Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân) is the governing body of association football in Iran. Formed ...

Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

is a popular and growing sport in the country.

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

has a strong national futsal team, which has won all the editions of Asian Futsal Championship except one. 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 330 goals scored so far. Futsal teams in Iran partly enjoy their success due to the style of football played outside, '' Gol Koochik'', which means small goal. The goal is approximately 100x60 cm in size and the ball is light-weight. This is the kind of soccer many Iranians play. Great dribbling skills are needed and players need to learn to maneuver the ball quickly.

Men's Futsal

National Team

Iran national futsal team's first international match was on 2 May 1992 in a 19–6 victory against Kuwait national futsal team. The Iran men's national team is regarded as one of the strongest teams in the world of futsal and almost dominates Asia base on currently ranked fifth in the FIFA rankings. Iran has appeared in the

FIFA Futsal World Cup The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherland ...

six times, with their best result being a semi–final appearance in 1992. Iran have also won the AFC Futsal Championship a record ten times and have reached the final of the

Grand Prix de Futsal The Grand Prix de Futsal is an international futsal competition of the same kind of the FIFA Futsal World Cup but with invited nations and held annually in Brazil. It was first held in 2005. History In 2007, the sixteen participating nations are ...

three times.

Vahid Shamsaei Vahid Shamsaei ( fa, وحید شمسايی ; born 21 September 1975) is an Iranian professional futsal coach and former player. He was a Pivot and he scored 392 goals in international matches. He is currently head coach of Iran national futsal te ...

is Iran and international futsal's record international goalscorer with 390 goals in 189 matches. Iran defeated world champions

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the

2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup The 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup was the eighth FIFA Futsal World Cup, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was held in Colombia from 10 September ...

in the Round of 16 and reached the semi finals of the tournament after defeating

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

in extra time.

Club Competition

The highest club futsal league in Iran is currently the

Iranian Futsal Super League The Iranian Futsal Super League ( fa, سوپرلیگ فوتسال ایران, ''SuperLig-e Futsāl-e Irān''), is a professional futsal league competition for clubs located at the highest level of the Iranian futsal league system founded in 2003. ...

which was founded in 2003 with the current format followed by the 1st Division and the 2nd Division. The most successful club in the history of the Super League is Shahid Mansouri Gharchak who have won the league twice and finished runners up three times. The Iranian Super League is the most successful league in the AFC Futsal Club Championship having won three of the seven editions and finishing runners up three other times.

Women's Futsal

Iran has had a women's futsal team since 2001. The women's futsal team participated for the first time at the

2007 Asian Indoor Games The 2007 Asian Indoor Games, officially known as the 2nd Asian Indoor Games and also known as Macau 2007 were held in Macau, China from 26 October 2007 to 3 November 2007. Most events of the games took place at the Macao East Asian Games Dome. The ...

finishing in fifth place. In 2013 Iran achieved their best ever result at the Asian Indoor Games, finishing as runner–up after a 2–1 loss to Japan in the final. Iran won AFC Women's Futsal Championship two times by defeating Japan in finals. 1–0 in 2015 and 5-2 in 2018.

Notes and references

External links