Futsal Is My Life: Farzaneh Tavasoli
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran futsal goalkeeper Farzaneh Tavasoli says that sport is her life.
Tavasoli scored a goal against Hong Kong in the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup China 2025 and it was her first ever tournament goal - and one of the very few things that she had not done in a career laden with trophies and accolades.
Indeed, it is almost impossible to write the story of Iranian - and Asian - women’s futsal without the 38-year-old figuring prominently.
“We used to play handball in school,” she told the-AFC.com. “When futsal came to Iran, one of my cousins told me about it and said it would be a major upcoming sport. I didn’t believe it, but I gave it a try and enrolled in a club and started to play.
“I was a player first but one day our goalkeeper was injured and the coach asked me to go in goal, and from that day I became a goalkeeper.”
Since picking up the sport at 13, Tavasoli has experienced remarkable success, winning 14 of the 17 available domestic league titles while playing for 10 different clubs and being named the league’s best goalkeeper on multiple occasions.
It is a similar story at international level for the “Eagle of Asia”, with two AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup crowns and four CAFA Women’s Futsal Championship titles and a Women’s Islamic Games 2005 gold medal, along with six nominations for the best women’s goalkeeper award.
