استقلال
Esteghlal FC, founded 1945, plays in blue and is Persepolis’s eternal Tehran rival. Renamed Esteghlal (Independence) after the 1979 revolution.
Glossary
پرسپولیس
Persepolis FC, founded 1963, plays in red and is one of Iran’s two biggest football clubs. The Tehran rivalry with Esteghlal is Asia’s most-watched derby.
باشگاه
Bâshgâh means club, gym, or sports club. The generic Persian word for any organized athletic body, from the local gym to Persepolis FC.
لیگ برتر
Lig-e Bartar is Iran’s top-tier football division, also known as the Persian Gulf Pro League. Sixteen clubs, August to May, the source of Team Melli players.
تیم ملی
Tim-e melli means the national team, in practice always the men’s football side. A unifying symbol that crosses every political line in Iran.
داور
Dâvar means referee, umpire, or judge. Used in football and other sports, and also in legal arbitration outside the courtroom.
دروازهبان
Darvâzeh-bân means goalkeeper. A compound of darvâzeh (gate) and bân (keeper), used in football and other goal-based sports.
بازیکن
Bâzikon means player, the default Persian word for an athlete in football and most team sports. Foundation A1 vocabulary for talking about sport.
کیارستمی
Abbas Kiarostami (1940 to 2016) was the master Iranian filmmaker who won the 1997 Palme d’Or and put Persian cinema on the world map.
سینمای نوین
Cinema-ye Novin is the Iranian New Wave, the art-cinema movement starting with Mehrjui’s Gaav (1969) that became Iran’s face in world cinema.