Who Will Make Iran's 2022 World Cup Kits? The 5 Brands in Contention
Iran’s football federation have announced that the contract to provide the country’s kits for the 2022 World Cup has not been rewarded to any brand yet. Having worn kits from Majid, Uhlsport and Adidas since their last World Cup appearance in 2018, they could end up with four different manufacturers in four years. We have been informed that there are five names in contention to produce Iran’s shirts for the tournament later this year.
Who Will Produce Iran’s World Cup 2022 Kits?
Pictured below is the Iran team at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Although Adidas produced Iran’s gear for the last World Cup, this time around none of the biggest international brands are amongst the contenders. They may be wary of associating themselves with the country for political and publicity reasons, and US sanctions against Iran complicate things further. Here are the five brands in the running for the deal and their credentials that they hope will seal it for them.
Majid
Iranian sportswear company released a set of kits earlier this year for the national team, and have also produced gear for the national volleyball team as well as Iranian Premier League teams like Esteghlal and Foolad. The company was established by Dr. Majid Saedifar who was an official physical therapist of the Iran national football team.
Persian Sports
Another Iranian brand, Persian Sports were Iran’s technical partner for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, producing clothing for all of the nation’s competing athletes as seen above. However they have never made kits for the country’s football team and they do not currently sponsor any teams in the Iranian Premier League.
Uhlsport
German brand Uhlsport was once a much more common name to see on the pitch, providing gloves to many top keepers in the 90s and early 2000s, as well as boots to Pavel Nedved. Today, they sponsor clubs in Albania, Bulgaria and Germany among others, as well as making the official match balls for Ligues 1 and 2 in France.
They made Iran’s kits during two spells, most recently from 2019 to 2022, and an earlier stint from 2012 to 2016. They probably have a bigger presence than any other foreign brand in Iranian football, sponsoring club sides Nessaji, Paykan, Persepolis and Sepahan.
Jako
Another German brand from outside the top tier with a significant presence in the Middle East. Jako make the kits of numerous clubs across Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Qatar among others, as well as the national teams of Afghanistan, Palestine, Oman, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Kelme
Some of Kelme's kits for their Egyptian clubs.
As well as producing kits for some relatively big clubs in Spain, Portugal and of course Watford in England, Spanish brand Kelme are the technical sponsors of a raft of clubs in Egypt and Jordan. Dominica and the Philippines are the only national teams currently wearing Kelme shirts.
Changing kit suppliers is something Iran have done frequently over the years and have had kits from bigger brands like Adidas and Puma as well as smaller names from closer to home, such as Daei Sports, Shekari and even some in-house shirts. You can check out their shirt history at footballkitarchive.com.
Which of the five brands would you like to see Iran wear at the World Cup? Comment below.
