Iran National Paintball League

The Iran National Paintball League (INPL) is a domestic paintball competition in Iran. Archived Iran Paintball Association records document men's divisions, women's competition, league regulations and national-team selection. Later publications record the Iran Paintball Tour during 1401 and national league seasons during the 2020s.[1][2][3][4]

The competition has used different names and divisional arrangements. Individual round victories and overall season championships are distinguished in the documented results.[5][6][7]

History

Early documented competition

An association report described the opening event of Iranian calendar year 1390 as the first round of the league's third year. Held in Gilan Province, it included eight teams in the premier division and twelve in the lower division. Datam defeated Datis Tehran in the premier final on 18 Shahrivar 1390 (9 September 2011).[1]

The description of a third year establishes an earlier competition history but does not identify a precise founding date.[1]

Men's and women's competition in 1390

The second men's round and first women's round took place together in Babolsar, Mazandaran Province, from 14 to 16 December 2011.[2]

Position	Men's first division	Men's second division	Women's competition
1st	Datis	Diako	Datis
2nd	Hype	Soheil	Javidan
3rd	Persian Legend Two	Tornado	Roham Babolsar

Source: Iran Paintball Association.[2]

The women's entry conditions required registration, identification cards and compliance with INPL Division 2 rules. This specified the rules used for the women's competition rather than placing its teams within the men's second-division standings.[8]

In February 2012, the Datis website identified its first team as the overall INPL champion for 1390 and named Hype as its opponent in the final.[5]

Planet Eclipse independently reported Datis securing the overall championship. It also recorded Diako winning Division 2 and promotion to Division 1, while Datis Girls won the women's cup and the women's 1390 title. Its report described 26 teams across three divisions at the combined event.[6]

These championship results belonged to the 1390 season, despite being reported during calendar year 2012.[5][6]

2012 season

The 2012 INPL season covers the programme for Iranian calendar year 1391. A women's opening round was completed in Tehran, while the proposed men's opening round was cancelled because of insufficient entries and financial difficulties.[9][10]

Women's opening round

2012 INPL Women's Round 1 took place on 17 May 2012 (28 Ordibehesht 1391). Seven teams represented Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Isfahan and East Azerbaijan.[9]

Position	Team	Province
1st	Datis Alborz	Alborz
2nd	Javidan Tehran	Tehran
3rd	Titan Qazvin	Qazvin
4th	Artemis Isfahan	Isfahan

The association and contemporary Mehr reporting agree on the leading four teams.[9][11]

The association also listed Javidan Two Tehran, East Azerbaijan and Takavaran Isfahan. Mehr reported Javidan Two and East Azerbaijan jointly fifth and omitted Takavaran, leaving the lower placings unresolved.[9][11]

The association identified this as the first women's round of 1391, although Mehr described it as the second women's league competition.[9][11]

A second women's round was scheduled for 6 September 2012 at Saital Paintball Club in Vilashahr, Najafabad, Isfahan Province. The recovered announcement does not confirm that this proposed competition took place.[12]

Cancelled men's programme

The association initially proposed the men's opening round for 29–31 August 2012 at the former Sepahan football ground in Isfahan, conditional on sufficient registrations.[13]

A registration notice listed Datis, Diako, Amertat, Persian Gulf, Tornado, Arad, Zeytoon Karaj and Atlantis as teams that had expressed interest. These were expressions of interest rather than a confirmed participating field.[14]

A revised notice identified Saital Paintball Club in Najafabad as the proposed venue. Its surviving text contains both 6 and 7 September as dates for the men's premier competition, alongside an explicit cancellation statement. It also stated that insufficient registrations prevented the second division from being staged.[15]

The association's separate cancellation letter confirmed that the men's opening round had been cancelled. It cited insufficient entries, rising paintball prices linked to exchange rates, operating costs and a lack of sponsors.[10]

A financial notice published projected income and expenditure and proposed increased entry fees and paintball prices as a possible means of covering costs. These proposals do not establish that the cancelled event subsequently took place.[16]

The cancellation letter suggested private organisation under association supervision and proposed separate national competitions for player selection.[10]

No completed men's 1391 league championship or final women's championship table has been established from the recovered records. Datis Alborz's verified result is an opening-round victory.[9][10][12][15]

Restart proposal in 2013

A September 2013 announcement proposed restarting INPL with an iBall format, weekly competition and a maximum of two games on each match day. It also proposed inviting leading players to a national-team training camp.[17]

2014 season

The 2014 INPL season corresponded to Iranian calendar year 1393. Eight approved teams were to enter the premier competition. The initial programme stated that the association would not operate Division 2 at that stage and would consider further arrangements during the second half of the year.[18]

The completed season comprised seven rounds over seven months. The association identified teams from Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Kerman, Isfahan and Khorasan Razavi provinces.[19]

Round	Date information	Location
1	16 May 2014, as identified in the photo-gallery title	Kerman
2	Announced for 27 June 2014; a conflicting gallery date remains unresolved	Resistance Village, Tehran
3	Revised date not recovered	Not established
4	Scheduled for 8 August 2014	Resistance Village, Tehran
5	Scheduled for 29 August 2014	Resistance Village, Tehran
6	Not established	Not established
7	Completed before the report published on 1 November 2014; precise date unresolved	Resistance Paintball Club, Tehran

Sources: contemporary reporting and archived association records.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25]

The final-round association report gives “Friday, 2 Azar”, which conflicts with Hamshahri's report of the completed event on 1 November 2014 and does not match the stated weekday in 1393. The precise final-round date remains unresolved.[19][20]

Datis Tehran won the overall championship, followed by Ariaman Tehran and Griffin Qazvin. These are season standings rather than a separately verified seventh-round podium.[19][20]

The domestic programme was intended to maintain teams' readiness for the Asia-Pacific league, with its final round scheduled approximately two weeks before the concluding Asia-Pacific event.[19][20]

Iran Paintball Tour, 1401

The 2022 Iran Paintball Tour season covers the documented tour beginning in June 2022. An opening round in Rasht and a second round in Bandar Abbas in February 2023 both fell within Iranian calendar year 1401.[3][26]

The INPL Instagram account advertised the Rasht event as the opening round of the Iran Paintball Tour.[4] Tabnak described it as a return following a two-year interruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Event	Dates or programme	Venue	First	Second	Third
Round 1	23–24 June 2022	Belona Paintball Club, Rasht	Datis Tehran	Datis Shemiranat	Singo Two Bandar Abbas
Round 2	February 2023; reported in progress on 2 February, continuing the following day	Singo Paintball Club, Bandar Abbas	Datis Tehran	Datis Shemiranat	Persian Gulf One

Sources: contemporary tour reporting.[3][26][27]

Eleven teams participated in Rasht. Belona received the fair-play cup, and Reza Shahran served as head referee. The advertised programme was 22–24 June, while the results report identified 23–24 June as the competition days.[3][4]

Ten teams participated in the second round. Singo Persian Gulf A finished fourth; Singo Persian Gulf B also participated.[26][27]

Datis won both documented rounds. The cited reports do not provide cumulative points or establish an overall tour championship.[3][27]

2023 season

The 2023 INPL season corresponded to Iranian calendar year 1402. Four rounds took place in Bandar Abbas, the Aras Free Zone and Rasht.[28][29][30][31]

Event	Dates or programme	Venue	Men's winner	Women's winner
2023 INPL Round 1	May 2023; women's matches scheduled for 3 May and men's matches for 4–5 May	Singo Paintball Club, Bandar Abbas	Datis Tehran	Singo Elite
2023 INPL Round 2	4–7 July 2023	Aras Free Zone	Datis Tehran	Belona Rasht
2023 INPL Round 3	17–20 October 2023, as reported by ILNA	Belona Paintball Club, Rasht	Tehran 02	Singo Bandar Abbas
2023 INPL Round 4	Women's competition concluded on 27 December; men's competition held on 28–29 December 2023	Singo Paintball Club, Bandar Abbas	Datis Tehran	Singo Elite

Sources: league records and contemporary reporting.[28][29][30][31][32][33]

For Round 3, ILNA reported a combined programme of 17–20 October. IRIB described two days of competition without identifying their individual dates.[30][33]

Datis won three men's rounds and finished second to Tehran 02 in Rasht. The final men's championship podium was Datis Tehran with 393 points, Persian Gulf One with 339 and Spad Mashhad with 267.[28][29][31][33]

Singo Elite won the women's championship with 377 points, followed by Belona Rasht with 315 and Singo Persian Gulf with 215.[32]

Singo's contemporary graphic distinguished the fourth-round men's results from the overall championship podium.[7] Further results are covered in 2023 INPL season.

2024 season

The 2024 INPL season corresponded to Iranian calendar year 1403. Three rounds were completed, each with sixteen men's teams and five women's teams.[34][35][36]

Event	Dates	Venue	Men's premier winner	Men's second-division winner	Women's winner
2024 INPL Round 1	May 2024; scheduled for 7–10 May	Singo Paintball Club, Bandar Abbas	Datis Tehran	Singo BND	Singo Bandar Abbas
2024 INPL Round 2	18–21 June 2024	Belona Paintball Club, Rasht	Datis Tehran	Singo BND	Datis Tehran
2024 INPL Round 3	24–27 September 2024	Spad Paintball Club, Mashhad	Datis Tehran	Datis veterans	Datis Tehran

Sources: contemporary results and the opening programme.[34][35][36][37]

Datis won all three men's premier rounds. Sajjad Patoui won the men's individual ranking competition at each round.[34][35][36]

The final premier standings placed Datis first with 300 points, Spad second with 248 and Amertat third with 210. Singo Bandar won the second division with 285 points, followed by Datis Old School with 270 and Singo Persian Gulf with 195.[38]

Singo BND and Datis Old School earned promotion. Datis Shemiranat and Persian Gulf Two, seventh and eighth respectively in the premier standings, were relegated.[38]

The second- and third-round reports described the Datis second-division entry as the veterans team; the final standings used Datis Old School.[35][36][38]

A fourth round had been proposed for Bafq on 19–22 November, conditional on suitable tournament paintballs being available. The league subsequently confirmed that the season ended after three rounds because suitable paintballs were unavailable. Awards would be sent to the leading teams' managers.[36][38]

2025 season

The 2025 INPL season corresponded to Iranian calendar year 1404. Documented rounds took place in Mashhad in May and October 2025.[39][40][41]

The opening round was scheduled for 13–16 May at Spad Paintball Club, Saran Sports Complex. An IRIB report published on 15 May confirmed that the women's and individual events had concluded while men's divisional competition continued until 16 May.[39][40]

Datis Tehran won the opening men's premier competition, with Phoenix Tehran second. The women's podium was Datis Tehran, Spad Mashhad and Arya Mashhad. Shahrad Sharifi won the men's individual event.[40][42]

The second round took place on 21–24 October. The federation reported twenty teams across three team divisions: fifteen men's teams and five women's teams.[41][43]

Datis Tehran won the men's premier and women's competitions. Maxfit Bandar Abbas won the men's second division, while Milad Rashidi won the men's individual event.[41]

These are verified round results rather than an aggregate season championship table.

Organisation and competition structure

Historical notices and results were published by the Iran Paintball Association, which administered entry requirements and published schedules, rules and financial notices.[1][8][10][18]

The divisional structure has changed. Records from 1390 describe two men's divisions and a separate women's competition. The initial 1393 programme provided for eight premier teams without an association-run Division 2 at that stage.[2][18]

The 2023 final-round programme specified men's five-player and women's three-player electronic competition.[44]

The 1403 programme specified five-player electronic team competition for both men and women. The men's premier format used a fifteen-minute limit and six-point mercy rule; the second division and women's competition used ten-minute limits and four-point mercy rules.[37]

The 2025 programme announced a closed eight-team men's premier division and an open-entry second division, with the bottom two premier teams relegated and the leading two second-division teams promoted at the end of the season.[39]

National-team selection

The September 2013 restart announcement proposed inviting leading players to a national-team camp.[17]

During the 2014 season, the association assessed players across the eight league teams, invited twenty to a camp and selected ten for the national squad. Its season-conclusion report announced the squad's forthcoming participation in the 2014 Nations Cup in Langkawi, Malaysia.[19][20]

Following the final 2023 men's round, leading competitors were invited to a camp in Bandar Abbas, held from 30 December 2023 to 1 January 2024.[31][45]

The federation's October 2025 report also described the technical committee identifying competitors for invitations to national-team camps.[41]

Women's competition

The first women's league round recorded in the recovered 1390 association results took place in Babolsar in December 2011. Datis won, followed by Javidan and Roham Babolsar.[2]

Datis Girls subsequently received the women's 1390 championship, as reported by Planet Eclipse in February 2012.[6]

The following season's confirmed opening round took place in Tehran on 17 May 2012. Datis Alborz finished first, Javidan Tehran second and Titan Qazvin third. The proposed September second round remains unverified as a completed event.[9][12]

Singo Elite won the 2023 overall women's championship, followed by Belona Rasht and Singo Persian Gulf.[32]

Five women's teams participated at each completed 2024 round. Singo Bandar Abbas won the opening round, while Datis Tehran won the second and third.[34][35][36] In a retrospective published on 23 September 2025, Datis described its women's team as the overall champions for 2024.[46]

Five women's teams participated at the second national round in October 2025, which Datis Tehran won.[41]

For the broader history of women's leagues, provincial events and international participation, see Women's paintball in Iran.

Documented season championships

Season	Competition	Champion	Runner-up	Third
1390 (2011–2012)	Men's first division	Datis	—	—
1390 (2011–2012)	Women's championship	Datis Girls	—	—
1393 (2014)	Premier league	Datis	Ariaman	Griffin
1402 (2023)	Men's championship	Datis Tehran	Persian Gulf One	Spad Mashhad
1402 (2023)	Women's championship	Singo Elite	Belona Rasht	Singo Persian Gulf
1403 (2024)	Men's premier division	Datis Tehran	Spad	Amertat
1403 (2024)	Men's second division	Singo Bandar	Datis Old School	Singo Persian Gulf

Sources: contemporary championship reports and final standings.[5][6][19][20][31][32][38] Dashes indicate that the cited reports do not establish those placings.

The 1391 programme and 1401 tour are omitted from this championship table because their recovered records do not establish aggregate championship standings. Datis's women's 2024 title claim is attributed separately above.[9][10][27][46]

Season and event articles

2012

2014

1401 tour, 2022–2023

2023

2024

2025

Media coverage

The league has published announcements and results through Instagram and Telegram. Its public channel preserves television reports and links to recorded matches.[28][47]

YouTube coverage of the 2025 opening round includes Division 1 preliminary matches dated 15 May and Division 2 preliminary matches dated 14 May.[48][49]

References

External links