Four large carpets feature the World Cup trophy, Russia 2018 tournament mascot Zabivaka, the goal-scoring wolf, as well as images of iconic sights of Russia and Iran. All the four carpets are unique in details, depending on which side will receive the lavish gift. The one going to FIFA, for example, bears the large logo of the organization.

“One of them will be donated to the Razavi shrine custodian, another carpet will be donated to the Iranian Football Federation, the third to FIFA, and the last to the Russian Football Federation,” carpet provider Hamed Heydari told RT’s Ruptly.

The weavers have produced three smaller rugs as well, which bear logos of national teams that will challenge Iran in the Group B of the tournament – Morocco, Portugal and Spain. The carpets are expected to be given as a gift by the Iranian team captain to his counterparts.

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Carpet-making process being complex and time-consuming, it took over a half of a year to make the World Cup 2018 set. “We started weaving these rugs six months and 15 days ago. Two shifts of eight people, that is 16 people put together worked on them. The fabric is 80 percent silk.” Heydari said.

The tradition to weave special carpets marking the World Cup tournaments has emerged back in 1998, when Iran managed to get into the world games for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since then, the weaver team has produced carpets marking every world championship.

“The goal of weaving these carpets is to introduce the genuine Iranian culture onto international arenas. The rugs will go down in history. One of them will be kept at the Russian Football Federation. May the entire world see these carpets and realize that Iranians are people of the arts,” carpet weaver Hossein Kazemi Hamed said, adding that he himself used to play football and his “love for sports made me bring carpets and sports into some sort of a relationship.”

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