{"id":1316,"date":"2026-08-19T21:01:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doublethink.institute\/?post_type=post&#038;p=1316"},"modified":"2026-08-19T21:01:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:01:50","slug":"football-politics-and-taekwondo-the-rezaeis-role-in-iranian-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resanegar.com\/en\/football-politics-and-taekwondo-the-rezaeis-role-in-iranian-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Football, Politics, and Taekwondo: The Rezaeis\u2019 Role in Iranian Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The family of Mohsen Rezaei, who led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1981 to 1997, has the power to <a href=\"https:\/\/tehranbureau.com\/doublethink\/post\/irgc-founder-rezaei-grips-irans-executive-branch\/\">veto<\/a> parliamentary legislation, mastermind covert ops, and <a href=\"https:\/\/tehranbureau.com\/doublethink\/post\/widely-read-news-site-promotes-irgc-founders-interests\/\">direct<\/a> the content of Iran\u2019s most popular news site. The clan also controls major Iranian sports institutions and regulatory bodies, including Esteqlal football team, the Taekwondo Federation, the Sports Ministry and the Majles Sports Committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rezaei\u2019s son Ali has stakes in several sports associations, as does Rezaei\u2019s business associate Yazdan Moayedinia. But the man with the most sports connections is Rezaei\u2019s brother Omidvar Rezaei Mirqaed, who has his hands in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Ministry of Sports and Youth: Omidvar is <strong>advisor to the Minister.<\/strong><\/li><li>Parliament: Omidvar headed the <strong>Majles Sports Committee<\/strong> from 2008- 2012. This parliamentary grouping uncovered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b9CAbcrPZSU\">widespread corruption<\/a> in Iranian football in 2014, when Omidvar was no longer its chairman.\u00a0<\/li><li>A Regulatory body: Omidvar is Chairman of the <strong>Sports and Culture Commission of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Omidvar\u2019s positions in these government and regulatory bodies poses conflicts of interests with his other activities, including in the following major sporting associations:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>A national football club:<strong> <\/strong>Omidvar is the board chairman of high-profile Tehran-based club<strong> Esteqlal <\/strong>and their representative in<strong> <\/strong>the <strong>Iranian Football Federation.<\/strong><\/li><li>Official sports medicine:<strong> Omidvar <\/strong>is an executive board member of the <strong>Iranian Sports Medicine Federation\u00a0<\/strong><\/li><li>Wrestling: Omidvar is Vice Chairman of the <strong>Cuxe Wrestling Federation<\/strong><\/li><li>Olympics: Omidvar is a member of the Medical Commission of the <strong>National Olympics Committee\u00a0<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By trade, Omidvar is a medical doctor who studied under Professor Majid Samii and established Professor Samii\u2019s International Health Institute in Tehran, where he is board chairman. (Tehran MP Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf\u2019s family-controlled foundation, the <a href=\"https:\/\/tehranbureau.com\/doublethink\/post\/former-tehran-mayor-qalibafs-international-business-network\/\">Imam Reza Charity<\/a>, is building a hospital for Samii.) Omidvar Rezaei has used funds provided by <a href=\"https:\/\/tehranbureau.com\/doublethink\/report\/bonyads\/\">Bonyad Mostazafan<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/tehranbureau.com\/doublethink\/inside-the-supreme-leaders-accounting-firm\/\">Tamin<\/a> organization to create another<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mehrnews.com\/news\/981526\/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%BE%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%B9%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AB-%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%AF\"> Samii Teaching Hospital<\/a>, according to Mehr News. <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">There has been no public query or oversight over such funding.<\/span><\/strong> Noteworthy of mention, Omidvar has been MP in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Majles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-hierarchy\" data-src=\"visualisation\/2155234\" data-url=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/2155234\/embed\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Martial Arts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another sports enthusiast in the family is Mohsen Rezaei\u2019s son <strong>Ali Rezaei Mirqaed, <\/strong>who<strong> <\/strong>previously played for <strong>Esteqlal<\/strong>, the football team his uncle Omidvar Rezaei controls, according to Asr-e Iran newspaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aside from his posts in business and politics, Ali was a directors board member of the <strong>Martial Arts Federation of Iran<\/strong>. He unsuccessfully tried to secure a position in Iran\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seratnews.com\/fa\/news\/463909\/%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%B1%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%AF-%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3\">Golf Federation<\/a>, according to Serat News.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third clan member with interests in sports is Mohsen Rezaei\u2019s business associate <strong>Yazdan Moayedinia, <\/strong>an IRGC luminary<strong> <\/strong>who<strong> <\/strong>has been the <a href=\"http:\/\/iribnews.ir\/fa\/news\/2141622\/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%86%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A8-%D8%B1%DB%8C%DB%8C%D8%B3-%D9%81%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%AA%DA%A9%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%88-%D9%88-%D8%AF%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%B1-%DA%86%D9%88%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%86\">Vice Chairman<\/a> of the <strong>Taekwondo Federation<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irna.ir\/news\/81369001\/9-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%AC%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D9%81%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%B2%D8%B4%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%B2%DB%8C%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%B2%D8%B4\">since<\/a> 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iran has brought home 14 gold medals from World Taekwondo Championships and a total of 57 medals, standing 5th in the all-time world rankings. Yet at a domestic level, competitors have reported corruption in the highest echelons of the sport. A regular competitor in domestic competitions told Doublethink that there is high competition turnover, but that many training facilities still lack basic standard equipment. Our source also questioned the independence of referees and accused Moayedinia of having \u201cno expertise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moayedinia is connected to Mohsen Rezaei through the Sobh Qarib Iranian Foundation, of which Moayedinia is vice chairman while Rezaei is the chairman. Moayedinia was the former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.magiran.com\/article\/1048841\">commander<\/a> of the Seyyed ol-Shohada Corps\u2019 10th Brigade. Moayedinia is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mashreghnews.ir\/news\/131050\/%D8%B9%DA%A9%D8%B3-%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%AF%DA%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%DA%98%D9%86%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D9%BE%DB%8C%DA%98%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87\">close friend<\/a> of the former commander-in-chief of the IRGC Mohammad Ali Jafari (2007-2019), according to Mashregh News, and was Jafari\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/old.alef.ir\/vdcdjx0s.yt0sj6a22y.html?3txt\">chief of staff<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Complete Network of Mohsen Rezaei<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-hierarchy\" data-src=\"visualisation\/2121905\" data-url=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/2121905\/embed\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The family of Mohsen Rezaei, IRGC chief for 16 years, has the power to veto parliamentary legislation, mastermind covert ops, and direct the content of Iran\u2019s most popular news site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[72,48,73],"issue":[20],"article-type":[],"tb_section":[],"class_list":["post-1316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-football","tag-irgc","tag-sports","issue-political-business-empires"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Football, Politics, and Taekwondo: The Rezaeis\u2019 Role in Iranian Sports - \u0631\u0633\u0627\u0646\u0647\u200c\u06af\u0631<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mohsen Rezaei can veto parliamentary legislation, mastermind covert ops, direct the news, and control sports institutions.\" 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