Let's go TM Women! 
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Training day
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Iran
How they qualified: 2018 champions
Best finish: Champions (2015, 2018)
Appearances: 3
Fun Fact: Undefeated in two editions
On paper, the reigning champions are the team to beat, having won each of the previous two editions by emerging victorious in every one of the 10 matches they played.
Having led them to glory in the inaugural 2015 edition, Foruzan Solymani returns to helm the side and can count on the firepower of Sara Shirbeigi, who tops the competition’s all-time top-scorers’ chart with 14 goals and Fereshteh Karimi, who follows in second with 11 strikes.
Remarkably, the duo are part of a group of five players in this team who will be participating in their third tournament - Hong Kong, China (3), Thailand (3), Japan (1), Vietnam (1) and Uzbekistan (1) are the only other sides with such players.
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Iran 1 Philipines 0
Goal at around 2:40
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An Open Mind Will Set You Free
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Well done ladies! Would have been a goal fest but the Philippine goalie was a beast!Comment
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Well done!Comment
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I saw the match live last night,Originally posted by diz View Post
Philippines goalie mashala looked very healthy looking didnt look has missed meal in years
she spoke perfect englishComment
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much of the Philippines national players in many sports are US born/raised.Originally posted by oracle View Post
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Torkaman ready to drive Iran to glory
As the clock ticked down towards full time at the Hohhot Sports Centre on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic of Iran faced the prospect of dropping points for the first time ever at the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup™.
Champions of both previous editions, the Central Asians had won all 10 matches in their tournament history but were struggling to find a way past an obdurate Philippines side in their Group B opener at China 2025.
But the debutants’ hearts were broken with three minutes left by a rising star of Iran women’s futsal - a name that those in the sport will likely hear a lot more of in the future.
Teed up by Sara Shirbeigi, Maral Torkaman displayed the kind of composure that has made her a fearsome forward to curl the ball past three players and into the net for the winning goal, which gave Iran a hard-fought three points.
It also underlined the resilience that complements her talent, as the 22-year-old had - along with her teammates - missed several good chances prior to that moment.
“I (just) told myself, ‘you can do it, you can do it - just go forward, pass the ball to your team-mates to score or I can score’,” she told
the-AFC.com “It did not matter who could score, we just wanted to win the game and we did, so it was very good for us.
“It was a very tough game for us and for me, it was my first game at the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup, and… all of us are very happy to win. We did not play many games before coming here - just one tournament in Thailand, and many of us are new, but we will aim to score as early as possible in the next match.”
One of seven tournament debutants in the Iran squad, Torkaman is the youngest among her 14 teammates but has already established herself as one to look out for.
Inspired to pick up football at eight years old by her brother Mehdi, the Karaj native was called up to the Under-14 women’s national team aged 11 and went on to represent Iran at the AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Championship 2015, AFC U-16 Women's Championship 2017 Qualifiers and AFC U-19 Women's Championship 2019 Qualifiers.
“I was addicted to football! After that, I switched to futsal and started to play for the national team and also in the women’s futsal league,” said Torkaman, who made the change in sport in 2019 and cited Saied Ahmad Abbassi, the
2023 AFC Futsal Player of the Year , as her idol. “I want to become a champion in Asia (so I chose futsal).”
With Mehdi, who has played for various IR Iran clubs since 2011, including top-flight sides Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan FC and Mes Rafsanjan FC, Torkaman is part of a unique brother-sister duo in the country’s professional football environment.
She has enjoyed great success in her futsal career so far. Named the Most Valuable Player as Iran won the CAFA U19 Girl’s Futsal Championship 2020, she achieved the same feat at senior level in the 2024 and 2025 CAFA Women's Futsal Championship, plundering 10 goals to clinch the Top Scorer prize at the latter as well.
At club level, Torkaman plundered 19 goals in her maiden league season with Nasr Fardis Karaj in 2021 to finish as top scorer and has since clinched three consecutive titles with Peykan Tehran (2022/23) and Palayesh Naft Abadan (2023/24 and 2024/25), while also bagging both the Best Female Player and Women's League Young Talent accolades in 2023/24.
There is no lack of mentor figures for Torkaman to learn from as well. Farzaneh Tavasoli, Tahereh Mehdipour, Fereshteh Karimi, Nasimeh Gholami and Sara Shirbeigi are all long-time stalwarts, who are at their third AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup and “have taught me so many things”.
Perhaps it was symbolic that Shirbeigi - the tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 14 goals - provided the assist for Torkaman’s first, which is set to be the first of many to come.
Still pursuing her studies in physical education outside of her futsal exploits, Torkaman is determined to drive Iran to glory in Hohhot as well as to qualification for the inaugural FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup Philippines 2025.
“I am feeling good for this tournament and I am so excited for all the matches,” she asserted. “I am so happy to be here and I am ready to learn more here. I am a pivot and I love to score goals, but I love passing to my teammates very much as well, so that I can help them to score.
“There is pressure as we are two-time champions, and we hope we can win every game to go out of the group first and then one by one win all our games.
“I want to go to the World Cup, but first we want to win this tournament - this is my goal and for all of us as well.”
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I didn't realize this until now, but top three teams from this AFC championship will qualify for the inaugural FIFA Women's Futsal World Cup in November of this year.
Let's go TM!!!Comment
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Iran 3 Hong Kong 1
We have qualified to the next round. Good job girls :-)
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An Open Mind Will Set You Free
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The ladies have qualified for the next round, with a game in hand. Oracle jaan, should they play to lose and place second in the group? lol, just kidding.
good luck ladies!!!Comment
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