Almost everything
Iran World Cup Team does on the world stage seems to be a reflection of global politics. And that extends all the way to the country’s World Cup uniforms. International sanctions dictate what the country’s national team can wear or can’t. Let’s start with the jersey. Typically companies like Adidas, Puma or Nike fight to sign contracts with World Cup team sand pay them millions of dollars to wear their jerseys. But it’s a different story for Iran. Sanctions have made sportswear companies wary of sponsoring the team’s uniforms.
Iran ended up signing a contract with Givova,
an Italian sports brand.
But Iranian athletes and media complained
that the quality wasn’t great.
The team then decided to use Adidas jerseys.
But they had to buy them themselves,
instead of being offered a traditional sponsorship.
They even had to customize their own jerseys.
Here in the team’s World Cup photo shoot,
look at Ramin Rezaeian’s jersey:
It appears that his number is placed upside down.
The jerseys had other issues too.
This do it yourself approach to jerseys
also means team Iran’s World Cup uniform
isn’t available for fans to buy.
Now let’s take a look at the shoes.
Saman Ghoddos is a dual Swedish and Iranian national.
He’s a striker for Oster sunds FK,
a Swedish football club.
And he has a sponsorship with Nike for cleats.
But now that he’s playing for team Iran in the World Cup,
Nike won’t supply him with shoes.
The company says, “U.S. sanctions mean that, as a U.S. company,
Nike cannot supply shoes to players in the Iranian national team
at this time.”
But Iran is pushing forward.
They’re one of the best teams in Asia
and are heading to Russia with some experts saying they
have an outside shot at some big upsets,
no matter what kind of jersey they’re wearing.
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