Iran allegedly uses soccer teams for spying on citizens, opposition group pushing for FIFA ban prior to World Cup

 According to a major opposition party, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran has allegedly been using the soccer system of the nation for spying on citizens, possibly in violation of FIFA bylaws.

The report was provided to Fox News Digital by the U.S. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). It alleges a scheme for the soccer federation in Iran, as well as top teams, to be pulled into an extensive state security arsenal. It’s also claimed that at least 15 commanders in the IRGC have been identified and documented in management for soccer clubs.

Importantly, the NCRI is itself a political coalition managed by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) — an exiled Marxist-Islamist militant group that advocates for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran and their own installation into power.

Citing claimed official documents from the IRGC, the NCRI is accusing the IRGC of utilizing teams, infrastructure in stadiums, and management posts connected to security to track fans, stifle athletes who are in disagreement, and violate the rules of FIFA when it comes to political interference.

It’s alleged in the report that fans were being monitored using facial-recognition technology, as well as other tracking systems and devices. Alleged internal security documents from Iran are cited in the report, which includes 2025 material from the Tehran Province Security Council and a 2024 security plan for a Sarallah Headquarters.

Per document translations from NCRI-US, officials spoke about facial-recognition cameras at Shahr-e Qods, Azadi and Takhti stadiums; ticketing linked to the civil-registration database in Iran; monitoring fans seat-by-seat using national ID; vetting and tracking leaders of fan clubs; and specified quick-reaction units or police staging areas in 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,” stated the report, which quoted the documentation, per Fox News Digital.

Based in Washington D.C., NCRI-US is an office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is an opposition coalition in Iran that is advocating for the replacement of the Islamic Republic with a system that they brand as a republic that is democratic, non-nuclear and secular. According to the group, the material was secured inside Iran of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) through the network. Considered an enemy by Tehran, MEK is a movement of major opposition.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, NCRI-US deputy director Alireza Jafarzadeh said that the entity originally focused in on surveillance of stadiums as they were monitoring how authorities in Iran obtained protesters’ identities during uprisings recently.

“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,” said Jafarzadeh. He stated that later on NCRI came to the realization, during their reviewing of what he says was a huge collection 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.”