Maral Torkaman Ready to Drive Iran to Glory
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – As the clock ticked down towards full time at the Hohhot Sports Center 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.
Champion of both previous editions, the Central Asians had won all 10 matches in its tournament history but was struggling to find a way past an obdurate Philippines side in its Group B opener at China 2025.
But the debutant’s 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).”
