WMany 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.
WChovgan, Chowgan or Chogan, is a sporting team game with horses that originated in ancient Iran (Persia). It was considered an aristocratic game and held in a separate field, on specially trained horses. The game was widespread among the Asian peoples. It is played in Iran, Republic of Azerbaijan and among Tajiks and Uzbeks.
WFoolad Arena is a newly built stadium in Ahvaz, which was opened on 13 November 2018. It hosts the home matches of Foolad since March 2019. The stadium was planned to be completed by November 2013, which was changed to middle of 2018 due to financial problems.
WFootball 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.
WPaliz Khoshdel is an Iranian underground film director, editor and producer. He was born in 1985 in Rasht, Iran. As a director and producer, his films include Street Sultan, Mutiny of Colours. ٫The Makhola Arrives!
WPahlevan of Iran is an annual Pahlevani Wrestling competition held in Iran, in which athletes from across the country compete. The champion earns the title of Pahlevan and the right to wear the Bazouband. Though the competition has ancient roots, its modern form has been held only since 1944.
WPersepolis Football Club, is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran, that competes in the Persian Gulf Pro League.
WTables is a general name given to a class of board games similar to backgammon, played on a board with two rows of 12 vertical markings called "points". Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among the oldest known board games, and many variants are played throughout the world.
WPahlevani and zourkhaneh rituals is the name inscribed by UNESCO for varzesh-e pahlavāni or varzesh-e bāstāni, a traditional system of athletics originally used to train warriors in Iran (Persia) and Afghanistan. Outside Iran, zoorkhanehs can be found in Azerbaijan, and they were introduced into Iraq in the mid-19th century, where they seem to have existed until the 1980s. It combines martial arts, calisthenics, strength training and music. Recognized by UNESCO as the world's longest-running form of such training, it fuses elements of pre-Islamic Persian culture with the spirituality of Shia Islam and sufism. Practiced in a domed structure called the zurkhāneh, training sessions consist mainly of ritual gymnastic movements and climax with the core of combat practice, a form of submission-grappling called koshti pahlavāni.