Sardar Azmoun was not included in the Iranian national team’s squad for the World Cup. Now the former Leverkusen player has been recalled – and reacted emotionally to his return.
Sardar Azmoun is back in the Iranian national team squad following his World Cup exclusion and has expressed his delight on Instagram at being called up by national coach Amir Ghalenoei for the upcoming friendlies against Uzbekistan and Russia: “This journey hasn’t always gone the way I’d hoped (…). But I’ve never stopped loving this shirt,” wrote the former Bundesliga player on his account. He said he was very happy and had nothing to prove to anyone.
No World Cup call-up
Azmoun missed the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico after being dropped from the World Cup squad in March. According to media reports, this was triggered by a photo on his Instagram page showing him with leading politicians from the United Arab Emirates. This drew criticism back home and was interpreted as unpatriotic behaviour on Azmoun’s part. The Emirates are home to US military bases; during the war with the US, the Gulf state was also repeatedly targeted by Iranian attacks.
Azmoun, who had moved from Zenit St Petersburg to Leverkusen in 2021 and scored five goals in 32 Bundesliga matches for the Werkself, was first loaned out by Bayer to AS Roma for a year during the 2023/24 season and then sold to Shahab Al-Ahli in Dubai.
In recent years, the 31-year-old striker had repeatedly criticised the Islamic system in Iran. It was therefore suspected that this criticism was the real reason for his exclusion from the World Cup squad – and that the photograph merely served as a pretext.