Welcome, everybody to soccer 101.

My name is Taylor Rockwell, and I am excited for this one and also slightly terrified.

Because this week we are continuing to take a look at domestic soccer in the nations that have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup.

We want to get a better feel for the leagues, players, and coaches we might not have much, or in today's case, any familiarity with ahead of next summer's tournament.

We've already spent some time on Japan and the J-League or the J League or the J. dot one. I forget what it was. This week, it's another AFC country that finished top of its group. It's a run. Six of their 11 starters in their final qualifier against Uzbekistan play in the domestic league. And literally every player in the squad cut their teeth there as well so

what is the persian golf pro league why is it called that how good is it and what are the major

obstacles it faces at present and in the future here with me today is a man who knows all about

the persian golf pro league he's watched it for years ins and outs and outs of teams, coaches, managers. It's Graham

Ruthven. Hello, Graham. Hello, Taylor Rockwell. Yes, you just can't stop me talking

about Tractor FC on Weekend Review. Every single wait, we have to cut that section down.

Yeah, I am, I totally share your feeling, your sense ahead of this episode, which is

excitement. I had a great time researching

this episode, also a bit nervous for this one, just because it's really not on our usual wheelhouse.

And that's the first thing to say is when we do these episodes, I like to think that I have a base level of knowledge.

Even when we did the J League, which is not a league that I watch every single week, I knew a little bit about the J League. Today is that that is not the case. I knew next to nothing about Iranian League football

before researching this episode. We've watched the national team at World Cups, of course,

played the US in 2022, but very little about the domestic league. So if I get something wrong,

I apologize. I'm doing my best. I hope the research

we've both done for this episode can cast a light on a league that at least in a Western sense

goes unnoticed most of the time. But this is not something that is on my radar on a daily or

weekly or even monthly basis, to be honest. I think that's very well said, Graham, because I'm in a similar boat of if you said name an Iranian club, I would have been like, no problem. And then if you had added except for Persepolis, I would have then had a problem. And so I think we are both coming at this from a we want to learn more about football in the country, we want to learn more about the league. but we are not by any means experts, though we've both done a fair amount of research,

and I'm really excited to talk about it.

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