Iran are bound to be without two of their top players for a controversially rescheduled international friendly with Nigeria’s Super Eagles, should the game go ahead this Friday in Turkey, Sports247 gathered.
One of the two players is United Arab Emirates-based attacker, Sardar Azmoun, who has been expelled for posting a photograph of himself shaking hands with Dubai’s ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The post on social media came at a point in which Iran’s government is currently raining retaliatory missiles on United Arab Emirates and other gulf nations, for allowing the United States of America use their territories to launch attacks on Tehran.
With the USA and Israel both attacking Iran on all fronts, anyone in support of that action is deemed to be an enemy, hence the reported punitive measure taken against 31-year-old Azmoun, who plays for Dubai-based Shabab Al-Ahli FC.
However, with international media reports confirming Friday’s game versus Nigeria in Atalanya, Turkey, Iran are bound to be without one of their most iconic players, who has scored 57 goals in 91 international matches for the country.
Additional reports by Novad News channel indicated that an order had been issued for the seizure of Azmoun’s assets, as well as those of another UAE-based national team forward, Mehdi Ghayedi and ex-international, Soroush Rafiei.
Despite the war, Iran’s team is scheduled to play international friendlies in Antalya, Turkey against Nigeria on Friday and versua Costa Rica four days later as part of their FIFA 2026 World Cup preparations.
However, they are bound to be without Azmoun, who previously played for Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia, Bayer Leverkusen of Germany and AS Roma of Italy, which helped him to feature for Iran at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
