Iran allegedly used soccer clubs to spy on citizens, opposition group urges FIFA to ban team before World Cup

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EXCLUSIVE: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has allegedly used the country's soccer system to spy on citizens, potentially violating FIFA bylaws, according to a new report from a major opposition party.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)'s U.S. office provided the report to Fox News Digital. It outlines an alleged plot for Iran’s soccer federation and top clubs to be drawn into a broader state security apparatus, and that at least 15 IRGC commanders have been formally documented and identified in soccer club management.

The NCRI, citing alleged official IRGC documents, accuses the IRGC of using clubs, stadium infrastructure and security-linked management posts to monitor fans, suppress dissenting athletes and violate FIFA rules on political interference.

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The report alleges facial-recognition technology and other devices and tracking systems were used to monitor spectators. The report cites alleged internal Iranian security documents, including Tehran Province Security Council material from 2025 and a Sarallah Headquarters security plan from 2024.

According to NCRI-US’s translations of those documents, officials discussed facial-recognition cameras at Azadi, Takhti and Shahr-e Qods stadiums; ticketing tied to Iran’s national civil-registration database; seat-by-seat mapping of spectators by national ID; monitoring and vetting of fan-club leaders; and designated police staging areas or quick-reaction units inside stadiums.

"It is highly critical for security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies to utilize and exploit the video surveillance cameras of the Azadi Complex during matches, given the constant potential for unpredictable security incidents. It is highly conceivable that future riots and civil unrest could originate inside the sports stadiums," the report said, quoting the documents.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran 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 and non-nuclear republic. The group says the material was obtained through the network inside Iran of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, a major opposition movement that Tehran considers an enemy.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of NCRI-US, told Fox News Digital that the organization first became focused on stadium surveillance while tracking how Iranian authorities identified protesters during recent uprisings.

"Our focus was basically in terms of the protests and seeing how the Iran regime actually [was] trying to identify the protesters in the streets, identifying the leaders of the protests," Jafarzadeh said. He said NCRI later realized, while reviewing what he described as a large batch of internal material, that "when it comes to a sports field, the Iran regime has a special attention on sports as a means of repression."

Jafarzadeh added that Iranian soccer stadiums are among the few spaces where large numbers of young people gather and express collective emotion, making them a target for security forces. Soccer is Iran’s most popular sport, and clubs such as Persepolis and Esteghlal draw massive followings.

According to NCRI’s report, minutes from a May 2025 Sports Commission meeting under the Tehran Province Security Council discussed the need to equip multiple Azadi, Takhti and Shahr-e Qods stadiums with facial-recognition cameras.

The same document says cooperation from the Football Federation, the Football League Organization, Esteghlal and Persepolis was "strictly required" for the video surveillance project at Azadi Stadium, according to the NCRI. Another section lists the president of Iran’s soccer federation, Mehdi Taj, among officials copied for "executive implementation."

The report also cited minutes from a later Tehran Province Security Council session saying officials discussed smart ticketing connected to Iran’s National Organization for Civil Registration, mandatory identity verification, numbered seats matched to national ID numbers, facial-recognition cameras, X-ray scanning machines and "fan cards" for pre-vetted fan leaders.

Jafarzadeh said NCRI believes the purpose of collecting such information is to identify people who oppose the regime and enable later arrests.

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"The information they got from the sports facilities, they used in order to identify the people who were opposed to the regime, and then later on arrested them," Jafarzadeh said. "The regime uses sports and athletic events in order to exert its repression on the population."

The report further alleged that Iran’s soccer system has been penetrated by IRGC and security-linked figures for decades. NCRI names at least 15 people it describes as IRGC or security-linked figures who have held senior positions in clubs, federations, league management or sports bodies. Among them, the report identifies Taj as a former IRGC intelligence officer who currently leads the Iran soccer federation.

Official FIFA bylaws say member associations must "manage their affairs independently," ensure their affairs are not influenced by third parties, and that they 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 on apartheid-era South Africa.

"You cannot have a sports club, a sports facility, dominated with the military, which is part of the Iran regime," he said. "Sports federations, they have to be able to operate autonomously independent of the government...

"My message to FIFA is that do exactly what you did with South Africa during the apartheid. The Iranian Football Federation that is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards must be expelled from FIFA."

FIFA also says violations of that independence requirement can lead to sanctions, even if the outside influence was not the fault of the association.

Fox News Digital has reached out to 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 blocked dozens of women from entering a soccer stadium in Mashhad. FIFA, however, has also pointed to recent cases where women were allowed to attend Iranian matches, including a 2024 women-only crowd at a Persian Gulf Pro League match in Isfahan.

Rights groups say Iranian women continue to face discriminatory barriers to stadium access.

Rights groups have documented cases in which Iranian athletes faced punishment after supporting or participating in anti-government protests.

Habib Khabiri, a former famed Iran national soccer player and team captain, was listed in a 1985 United Nations report among people "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 after alleged ties to the Mojahedin-e Khalq.

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Jafarzadeh highlighted Khabiri as a symbol of the regime’s repression of 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 he was executed on June 21, 1984," Jafarzadeh said. "He became a symbol for all of the athletes."

Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson's reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.