Esteghlal, Persepolis IPO Planned for Feb 

The government is to sell a part of its shares in Tehran's two main football clubs, Esteghlal and Persepolis, in an initial public offering slated for next February, head of the Iran Privatization Organization aid.
“Offering shares of the two clubs in the stock market is the most viable path to privatizing them, as it would raise the transparency of their activities and by extension the quality of their management," Hossein Qorbanzadeh was quoted as saying by ILNA. 
Referring to the large fan base of the top soccer teams, he said, "We had to ensure that the two will become profitable, before offering their shares in the bourse.”