Top Iran footballer is EXPELLED from their nationwide staff for ‘disloyalty’ after he posed for pictures with Dubai’s ruler amid UAE missile strikes
Sardar Azmoun, one of Iran’s top footballers, has been expelled from the national team after falling foul of a perceived act of disloyalty to the government.
Iranian media report that Azmoun, 31, is unlikely to feature for his country at this summer’s World Cup after he shared a since-deleted photo of himself shaking hands with Dubai’s ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Azmoun currently plays for Dubai-based football club Shabab Al-Ahli. He has scored 57 goals in 91 international matches for his country.
Iran’s participation in the World Cup is under a cloud due to ongoing conflict with the United States, Israel and their neighbouring allies in the Middle East – of which the United Arab Emirates is one.
Iran has launched rocket and drone attacks on the UAE following air strikes by the United States and Israel, which killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian footballer Sardar Azmoun has reportedly been expelled from the national team
Azmoun shared a photo alongside Dubai’s leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, now deleted (pictured here in January 2025)
A report on the Fars News Agency, which has links to the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, cited ‘an informed source within the national team’ as saying Azmoun had been expelled from the squad.
The footballer later removed the pictures from his social media but was criticised on state TV on Thursday night, with football pundit Mohammad Misaghi describing the striker’s behaviour as an act of disloyalty to his nation.
‘It’s unfortunate that you don’t have enough sense to understand what kind of behaviour is appropriate at a given time,’ Misaghi said.
‘We should not mince words with such people. They should be told that they are not worthy of wearing the national team jersey.
‘We have no patience for this sulking and childish behaviour. National team players should be people who proudly belt out the national anthem and deserve to wear the Iran jersey.’
Iran’s football federation are yet to confirm reports Azmoun has been expelled from the men’s senior team. He had previously shared a photo with Dubai’s leader that remains on his Instagram profile from January 2025.
Azmoun has scored 57 goals in 91 international matches for his country but is unlikely to feature at this year’s World Cup
‘It was a pleasure and an honor to meet one of the most successful minds in the world, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid,’ he captioned the post. ‘Choose your club carefully.’
Azmoun has played his entire club career abroad with stints at Zenit Saint Petersburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Roma as well as featuring for Iran in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
An unsourced report on the Novad News channel said on Thursday that an order had been issued for the seizure of the assets of Azmoun, another UAE-based national team forward Mehdi Ghayedi, and former international Soroush Rafiei.
Misaghi was speaking against the backdrop of pictures of a ceremony welcoming the Iranian women’s national team back to Tehran on their return from Australia.
Seven of the delegation accepted asylum in Australia after the team was branded ‘wartime traitors’ on Iranian state TV for not singing the national anthem before a Women’s Asian Cup match. Five later decided to return to Iran.
Iran’s men are scheduled to play friendly internationals in Antalya, Turkey against Nigeria on March 27 and Costa Rica four days later as part of their World Cup preparations.
