TEHRAN - Iran won its third gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Wednesday as Hassan Pajani and Abolfazl Aghaeinasab claimed the eFootball title.
The Iranian pair opened their knockout campaign with a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Saudi Arabia before overcoming Japan 2-1 in the semifinals.
The pair then produced their highest-scoring performance of the competition to beat Malaysia 4-2 in the gold-medal match.
The result gave Iran its third gold of the Games, following two karate titles won by the brothers of Nemati.
The medal lifted Iran to seventh place in the medal table, with the delegation now holding three golds, three silvers and one bronze.
Esports became a full medal sport at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, after being introduced as a demonstration sport at Jakarta-Palembang in 2018.
Esports is again part of the official Asian Games medal programme after making its full medal debut at Hangzhou in 2022, when seven titles were contested. Aichi-Nagoya has expanded the programme to 11 medal events, including eFootball, Gran Turismo 7, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile and Pokémon UNITE.
The eFootball competition is contested by two-player teams, with one player competing on the console platform and the other on mobile.
Pajani also entered the Asian Games as an established name in the eFootball scene. Konami, the game’s developer, reported earlier this year that the Iranian had won the Arsenal FC Club Finals on the console platform, earning a place at the eFootball World Finals.
The esports competition is being held at Aichi Sky Expo and runs from September 23 to October 2 as part of the 20th Asian Games.
The Aichi-Nagoya Games are being held from September 19 to October 4 across venues in Japan, with around 17,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and regions competing in 43 sports.
Iran’s delegation, named “Minab Angels”—a tribute to the victims of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Shajareh Tayyebe Elementary School in Minab on February 28—is competing at the Games with 305 athletes across 38 sports.