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EXCLUSIVE: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has allegedly used the country’s football system to spy on citizens, potentially violating FIFA’s statutes, according to a new report from a major opposition party.
The US office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) provided the report to Pak Gazette Digital. It describes an alleged plot to have Iran’s football federation and major clubs drawn into a broader state security apparatus, and that at least 15 IRGC commanders have been formally documented and identified in the management of football clubs.
The NCRI, citing alleged official IRGC documents, accuses the IRGC of using clubs, stadium infrastructure and security-related administrative posts to monitor fans, repress dissident athletes and violate FIFA rules on political interference.
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The report alleges that facial recognition technology and other tracking devices and systems were used to monitor viewers. The report cites alleged internal Iranian security documents, including material from the Tehran Province Security Council from 2025 and a Sarallah headquarters security plan from 2024.
According to NCRI-US translations of those documents, officials discussed facial recognition cameras at Azadi, Takhti and Shahr-e Qods stadiums; banknote issuance linked to Iran’s national civil registry database; seat-by-seat mapping of spectators according to their national ID card; monitoring and vetting of fan club leaders; and designated areas for police or quick reaction units inside stadiums.
“It is very important that security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies use and exploit the Azadi Complex’s video surveillance cameras during matches, given the constant potential for unpredictable security incidents. It is highly conceivable that future riots and civil unrest could originate within sports stadiums,” the report says, citing the documents.
Pak Gazette Digital has contacted the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation and Iran’s mission to the United Nations for comment.
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NCRI-US is the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an Iranian opposition coalition that advocates replacing the Islamic Republic with what it describes as a democratic, secular, non-nuclear republic. The group says the material was obtained through the network within Iran of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran, or MEK, a major opposition movement that Tehran considers an enemy.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of NCRI-US, told Pak Gazette Digital that the organization first focused on stadium surveillance while tracking how Iranian authorities identified protesters during the recent uprisings.
“Our focus was basically in terms of the protests and seeing how the Iranian regime actually [was] trying to identify protesters on the streets, identifying protest leaders,” Jafarzadeh said. He said the NCRI realized later, while reviewing what it described as a large amount of internal material, that “when it comes to a sports arena, the Iranian regime has a special focus on sports as a means of repression.”
Jafarzadeh added that Iranian football stadiums are among the few spaces where large numbers of young people gather and express collective emotions, making them a target for security forces. Football is the most popular sport in Iran and clubs such as Persepolis and Esteghlal attract a large following.
According to the NCRI report, minutes of a Sports Commission meeting held in May 2025 within the framework of the Tehran Provincial Security Council discussed the need to equip multiple Azadi, Takhti and Shahr-e Qods stadiums with facial recognition cameras.
The same document says that the cooperation of the Football Federation, the Football League Organization, Esteghlal and Persepolis was “strictly necessary” for the video surveillance project at Azadi Stadium, according to the NCRI. Another section lists Iran’s football federation president Mehdi Taj among officials copied for “executive implementation.”
The report also cited minutes from a subsequent session of the Security Council of Tehran province in which officials were said to have discussed issuing smart tickets connected to Iran’s National Civil Registration Organization, mandatory identity verification, numbered seats matching national identification numbers, facial recognition cameras, X-ray scanning machines and “fan cards” for leaders of pre-vetted fans.
Jafarzadeh said the NCRI believes the purpose of collecting such information is to identify people who oppose the regime and allow for subsequent arrests.
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Iranian football fans gathered in Tehran’s Enghelab Square on May 13, 2026 for a ceremony honoring Iran’s national football team ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The event featured the performance of anthems dedicated to the team and the presentation of the team’s kit. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)
“They used the information they obtained from the sports facilities to identify people who opposed the regime and then arrested them,” Jafarzadeh said. “The regime uses sporting and athletic events to exert its repression on the population.”
The report further alleges that Iran’s football system has been penetrated by the IRGC and security-linked figures for decades. The NCRI names at least 15 people it describes as IRGC or security-related figures who have held senior positions in clubs, federations, league administrations or sports bodies. Among them, the report identifies Taj as a former IRGC intelligence officer who currently heads Iran’s football federation.
FIFA’s official statutes say member associations must “manage their affairs independently”, ensure they are not influenced by third parties and be “neutral in matters of politics and religion”, “independent” and avoid “any form of political interference”.
Jafarzadeh said FIFA should expel Iran’s soccer federation, comparing the case to international sports bans imposed in apartheid South Africa.
Iranian soccer fans gather at Enghelab Square in Tehran during a ceremony for the Iran national soccer team ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on May 13, 2026. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)
“You cannot have a sports club, a sports facility, dominated by the army, which is part of the Iranian regime,” he said. “Sports federations must be able to operate autonomously and independently of the government…
“My message to FIFA is to do exactly what they did to South Africa during apartheid. The Iranian Football Federation, controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, must be expelled from FIFA.”
FIFA also says that violations of that independence requirement can lead to sanctions, even if the outside influence was not the association’s fault.
Pak Gazette Digital has contacted FIFA for comment.
The report also accuses Iran of systematic gender discrimination in sports, especially restrictions on women entering stadiums and state control over female athletes’ uniforms.
Human Rights Watch reported in 2022 that Iranian authorities prevented dozens of women from entering a soccer stadium in Mashhad. However, FIFA has also pointed to recent cases where women have been allowed to attend Iranian matches, including an all-female crowd in 2024 at a Persian Gulf Pro League match in Isfahan.
Human rights groups say Iranian women continue to face discriminatory barriers to accessing stadiums.
Iranian soccer fans gather at Enghelab Square in Tehran during a ceremony for Iran’s national soccer team ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on May 13, 2026. Thousands of people attended the event where anthems dedicated to the national team were performed and the team’s kit for the tournament was unveiled. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)
Human rights groups have documented cases in which Iranian athletes faced punishment after supporting or participating in anti-government protests.
Habib Khabiri, Iran’s former famous national football player and team captain, was listed in a 1985 United Nations report among those “allegedly summarily and arbitrarily executed” in Iran in 1984-1985. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Khabiri was arrested in 1983, tortured in prison and executed in 1984 for alleged ties to the Mojahedin-e Khalq.
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Jafarzadeh highlighted Khabiri as a symbol of the regime’s repression against athletes, as Khabiri was a rising soccer star who became captain of Iran’s national team before being arrested and asked to appear on television to renounce his political beliefs.
“He refused and was executed on June 21, 1984,” Jafarzadeh said. “He became a symbol for all athletes.”
