{"id":54822,"date":"2026-05-07T13:19:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=54822"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:19:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:19:39","slug":"iran-to-face-the-gambia-in-a-friendly-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2026\/05\/07\/iran-to-face-the-gambia-in-a-friendly-in-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran to face The Gambia in a friendly in Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foot-Africa.com – BANJUL, The Iranian national team will play a friendly match against Gambia on May 29, 2026, in Antalya, Turkey. This encounter will serve as preparation for both teams: the Scorpions gearing up for the 2027 AFCON qualifiers, while the Persians are getting ready for the 2026 World Cup.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iran is preparing for the upcoming World Cup with a friendly against an African side, and Gambia has been chosen by the World Cup-bound Persians. According to information relayed by Gamfoot Transfers, the Iranian federation has reportedly agreed to cover all expenses related to Gambia’s trip to Turkey, including airfare, accommodation, and training facilities.<\/p>\n

Currently ranked 21st in the FIFA rankings, Iran has already secured its ticket to the 2026 World Cup and will approach this match as the favorite. Gambia, on the other hand, sits 116th in the world rankings and views this clash as a crucial test against one of Asia’s strongest teams.<\/p>\n

The Gambia Football Federation has confirmed that this fixture is among the most prestigious friendlies the Scorpions have played recently against a non-African side.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Gambian football authorities announced they are in advanced talks to organize two more friendlies against Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau. These matches could take place next June in Gambia, marking the long-awaited return of the national team to Independence Stadium after a lengthy absence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Foot-Africa.com – BANJUL, The Iranian national team will play a friendly match against Gambia on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":54823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,92,86,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c47-featured-news","category-c21-international-football-news","category-c13-team-melli-news","category-world-cup"],"views":85,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54824,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54822\/revisions\/54824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}