Takhti Stadium

Takhti Stadium opened in Tehran in 1973, the product of five years of construction under the architect Jahangir Darvish, and it carried a different name at the ceremony that marked its completion: Queen Farah Pahlavi Stadium. That name lasted only as long as the monarchy did. After the 1979 revolution, the ground was renamed for Gholamreza Takhti, the Iranian wrestler whose standing in the country went well beyond the mat, and the arena has answered to his name since.

The stadium sits east of the city centre, wedged into a junction where several boulevards converge rather than fronting a single street — an address better described by the roads that meet there than by any number. It forms part of a wider sports complex rather than standing as an isolated bowl.

At 8,000 seats, Takhti is a modest venue by the standards of the capital, and its current tenant reflects that scale: Naft Tehran plays its home fixtures in the Iranian Premier League there. The ground has passed between clubs before — Saipa once called it home as well, before moving on to the Shahid Dastgerdi Stadium.