Tehran

Tehran (also transcribed Teheran) (تهران in Persian), population 9,000,000 (metropolitan: 14,000,000), and a land area of 254 square miles, the capital of Iran (Persia) and the center of Tehran Province. Tehran is located at {{coor dm|35|40|N|51|25|E|type:city(9000000)_region:IR}}. http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html

Sports

Tehran was the first city in the Middle East to host the Asian Games. The 7th Asian Summer Games in 1974, was held with the participation of 2363 athletes and officials from 25 countries.

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Tehran is also the site of Iran's national football stadium Azadi Stadium with 100000 seating capacity. Many of the top matches of Iran's Premier League are held here.

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Within 10 minutes of driving distance from Tehran lies an excellent ski resort. Tochal is the world's fifth highest ski resort at over 3730m at its highest 7th station. The resort was completed in 1976 shortly before the overthrow of the Shah.

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Here, one must first ride the eight km (five mile) long gondola lift which covers a huge vertical. The 7th station has three major slopes. The resort's longest slope is the south side U shaped slope which goes from the 7th station to 5th station. The other two slopes are located on the north side of the 7th station. Here, there are two parallel chair ski lifts that go up to 3900m near Tochal's peak (at 4000m), rising higher than the gondola 7th station station. This altitude is higher than any of the European resorts including Mont Blanc.

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From the Tochal peak, one has a spectacular view of the Alborz range, including the 5671 metre (18606 ft) high Mt. Damavand, an extinct volcano.

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At the bottom of the lifts in a valley behind the Tochal peak is Tochal hotel, located at 3500m altitude. From there a T lift takes skiers up the 3800 metres of Shahneshin peak, where the third slope of Tochal is.

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Tochal 7th station has skiing eight months of the year. But there are also many glaciers and year-round snow fields near Tehran where skiing began in 1938, thanks to the efforts of two German railway engineers. Today, 12 ski resorts operate in Iran, but the most famous are Tochal, Dizin, and Shemshak, all within an hour or so of Tehran.

Related Topics:
Tochal - Dizin - Shemshak

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Football

In football (soccer), Tehran is host to six football clubs in Iran's Premier Football League, namely:

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• Esteghlal.
• Saba Battery
• Saipa

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• Rah Ahan FC
• Pas Tehran
• Pirouzi/Persepolis

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These clubs have on numerous occasions won Asian titles, and many of their players are well known internationally.

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