The Story

Madarane Aban — back to homeMADARANE ABAN
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Lion and sun relief on a stone wall at dusk
THE MEMORY THEY COULDN’T RENAME
78 26 → THE SUN NEVER SET

The sun rose in ’78.
It never set.

خورشید در ۷۸ طلوع کرد. هرگز غروب نکرد.
Argentina 1978 · America 2026
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days
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hours
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min
until the first whistle — June 15, SoFi Stadium
The Story

48 years, same roar

Before anything else, there was a golden decade. Iranian football's first great era was built in the 1960s and 70s — and then history cut it in half. This is the thread that connects two games, two summers, two suns.

  • 1968
    Iran wins its first Asian Cup, at home in Tehran.
  • 1972
    Second consecutive Asian Cup, in Bangkok.
  • 1973
    A 100,000-seat stadium opens west of Tehran — Aryamehr Stadium, built for the 1974 Asian Games.
  • 1976
    Third consecutive Asian Cup, again in Tehran. Three in a row — still Iran's only ones.
  • 1978
    Iran qualifies for its first World Cup ever — Argentina. The famous 1–1 draw with Scotland. The sun rose.
  • 1979
    Everything changes. The stadium is renamed. Taj — "Crown" — FC becomes Esteghlal. The golden era ends mid-sentence.
  • 1998 · 2006 · 2014 · 2018 · 2022
    Iran returns to the world stage again and again. The roar never stopped — but it carried something unspoken.
  • 2026
    America. Group G. Forty-eight years after Argentina, the circle closes. The sun was never down — it was rising the whole time.
The Emblem

Everything is football. Everything is memory.

No flag. No crest of any state, past or present. Every element has a plain football meaning — and a second one, for those who know.

  • The sun is the ball, rising at the center spot. A kickoff. A dawn. Both readings are true.
  • Eleven rays — eleven players on the pitch. Nothing more needs saying.
  • The horizon is the halfway line, with the center circle below it. The whole emblem is just a pitch at sunrise.
  • Three stars — 1968, 1972, 1976. Three Asian Cups. Pure football history; everyone knows which decade they came from.
  • 78 → 26 — the first game and this one. Two World Cups, forty-eight years apart. Dates can't be confiscated.
Group G · Summer 2026

Where to wear it

Iran 🆚 New ZealandJUN 15 · SOFI STADIUM, LOS ANGELES
Belgium 🆚 IranJUN 21 · SOFI STADIUM, LOS ANGELES
Egypt 🆚 IranJUN 26 · LUMEN FIELD, SEATTLE
The Shop

Wear it through any gate

Flags get taken at the entrance. A shirt with a sunrise, eleven rays, and two dates is just a shirt — until ten thousand people in the stands are wearing the same one.

78 26 → THE SUN ROSE IN ’78 IT NEVER SET خورشید هرگز غروب نکرد
The Back
The emblem and the quote — a 12″ print on heavyweight black cotton. The statement that walks through every gate.
78 → 26
The Front
The lion of Madarane Aban, small on the left chest — the brand mark of the community. Quiet in the street, loud in the stands.
$34 USD · UNISEX · S–3XL

Buy the shirt
Printed and shipped from the USA · order early for delivery before the Seattle match (Jun 26)
  • No flag of any era — nothing on the banned-symbols list, nothing for a steward to point at.
  • The back carries the message — only dates, a sunrise, and football history.
  • National colors, not political ones — green, white, red belong to every Iranian.
  • Meaning lives in the community — to an outsider it's nostalgia for a football debut. To us, it's everything.
No flags. No fear. Just memory.
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