Sardar Azmoun (Persian: سردار آزمون (Sardâr Âzmun); born 1 January 1995) is an Iranian professional footballer.

He plays as a forward for the UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli, and the Iran national team.

[7] During the 2012–13 season, thanks to Azmoun's great display in Iran's youth team, Sardar became sought after by a couple of European clubs, namely Rubin Kazan.

He chose to work with Turkmen speaking Kurban Berdyev and became Iran's first football player in the Russian Premier League.

On 25 July 2013, Azmoun made his debut for the senior team in a UEFA Europa League match against Jagodina, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute as Rubin won 1–0.

[12] On 29 August, he scored his first goal in just his second senior appearance for Rubin in a 3–0 Europa League win against Molde, coming on as a substitute in the 64th minute.

[13] He made his league debut with a goal and an assist on 6 October 2013, coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute in a 5–1 win over Anzhi Makhachkala.

On 27 March 2014, English Premier League side Arsenal reportedly made a £2 million offer to Kazan for the transfer of 19-year-old Azmoun, sparking interest from A.C. Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Tottenham, and Barcelona as well.

[19][20] On 4 July 2014, Rubin Kazan announced through their official website that Azmoun would remain at the club despite transfer offers from Arsenal, Liverpool and Zenit St. Petersburg.

[21] On 26 February 2015, Azmoun signed a three-and-a-half-month loan deal with relegation-battling Russian Premier League club FC Rostov until the end of the season.

He scored a brace in a 3–1 victory over Dynamo Moscow on 12 May 2016, which kept Rostov in second place and in contention for the Russian Premier League championship.

On 16 May 2016 with his goal, Rostov defeated Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast 1–0 and clinched at least an UEFA Champions League play–off spot for the 2016–17 season.

However, CSKA won their match and Rostov finished as runners up, thus securing a UEFA Champions League playoff spot.

[36] Azmoun made his Champions League debut on 26 July 2016 in the first leg of a third-round qualifying round match against Anderlecht at Olimp – 2, coming on for Aleksandr Bukharov at the 56th minute.

[37] He started in the return leg on 3 August 2016 and scored his first Champions League goal in the 47th minute, helping Rostov advance 4–2 on aggregate.

After his good performances and goals in the UEFA Champions League, Azmoun drew interest from European giants such as Marseille, Liverpool, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayer Leverkusen.

[50] Sardar scored two goals and registered one assist in his debut start for Zenit against Fenerbahçe in the Round of 32 in the UEFA Europa League.

[51] On 2 March 2019, he scored the only goal of the game to give Zenit a 1–0 victory over Ural Yekaterinburg in his Russian Premier League debut for the team.

[55] On 5 July 2020, he scored twice in a 4–2 victory over FC Krasnodar that secured a second consecutive Russian Premier League title for Zenit.

[61] On 30 January, Zenit announced that the clubs have agreed on a winter transfer and Azmoun would move to Bayer Leverkusen immediately.

[66] In February 2024, Azmoun was included in Daniele De Rossi's UEFA Europa League knockout stage squad.

[68] In July 2024, Azmoun moved to Shabab Al Ahli of the UAE Pro League, having agreed a three-year contract.

[69] Azmoun broke out while representing the Iran U-20 side when he was first called up for the 2012 AFF U-19 Youth Championship, becoming the top scorer of the tournament before repeating the feat in the 2012 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup, scoring seven goals in six games.

[75] Azmoun made his senior debut on 26 May 2014 in a friendly match against Montenegro, coming on as a substitute in the 60th minute for Reza Ghoochannejhad.

Eight days later, he scored the first goal in Iran's 2–0 win over Uzbekistan which secured qualification to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

[84] Azmoun retired from International football at the age of 23 just after Iran's 2018 World Cup exit due to insults he received from fans, which, he said, had caused his mother's illness to worsen.

[85] In October 2018, Azmoun returned to the Iranian national team and was called up for 2019 AFC Asian Cup by Carlos Queiroz.

He indicated his public views could cost him the ability to play in the World Cup, but he said "That is worth sacrificing for one strand of Iranian women's hair".