For most footballers, being released by a club means looking for another team. Soheil Varahram decided to build one. The entrepreneur of Iranian heritage, better known online as Soheil Var, has turned that decision into Palm City FC, a Dubai club with two trophies from the 2025–26 season.
It is an appealing story for Iranians everywhere: a young man taking a setback seriously, without letting it define the rest of his life. What makes it worth following is that the results now extend beyond a compelling social media series. There is a team, an organisation and a competitive record behind the camera.
Who is Soheil Varahram?
Varahram is a football entrepreneur and content creator whose public name is Soheil Var. In Persian, we render his full name as سهیل ورهرام. The National reported on February 5, 2026, that his parents are Iranian and that the family moved from Vienna to Canada during his childhood.
His Iranian roots are therefore documented. His career, however, developed internationally: his official website describes playing experience in Spain, Austria, Germany, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. He is not a product of Iran’s domestic professional league, and his story should be understood on its own terms.
For the Iranian diaspora, that does not make the connection any less meaningful. Identity can travel across borders and generations. Varahram’s success offers a welcome example of someone with Iranian roots creating opportunities for others as well as pursuing his own ambitions.
From chasing a contract to creating a club
Before becoming a founder, Varahram documented his efforts to earn a professional playing contract. The videos let audiences follow the uncertainty of the process, not just its eventual highlights. His official biography presents that journey as the foundation for his later work in football and media.
In an interview published by Gulf News on April 27, 2026, he described how being released by Gulf United helped redirect his ambitions towards building a club. The project became a public challenge: establish a football club in 365 days.
Gulf News also reported that he put his social media agency on hold to concentrate on the team, giving up an existing source of income in the process. That is a useful detail in a story easily reduced to motivational slogans. A fresh start still comes with bills, difficult choices and work that nobody sees.
Al Qabila, Team 365 and Palm City FC
Readers searching for the project may encounter the names Al Qabila, Team 365 and Palm City FC. They appear at different stages of the club’s development and in competition reporting. The Palm City identity gives the project a recognisable connection to Dubai, while the name 365 remains visible in official match coverage.
Varahram is its founding public face, but the club is a collective undertaking. Sheikh Ahmed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan has provided leadership and financial backing. Gulf News described how a meeting at a football match developed into a partnership. Recognising that support makes the achievement more understandable: a founder’s skill includes bringing the right people together.
Two trophies give the story substance
On May 4, 2026, Sharjah24 reported that Team 365 had been crowned UAE Second Division champions following a 3–2 victory over Baynounah. The same report recorded the club’s UAE FA Cup success against Hatta: a 1–1 draw followed by victory on penalties.
The competition names need a little explanation. The UAE Second Division is the third level of the country’s league structure. The First Division is the second level, below the top professional league. Palm City’s achievements therefore should not be described as winning the UAE top flight. The club’s public profile now identifies it with the First Division.
Buzzer, which covered the cup final, highlighted the contributions of Alejandro Pozuelo and goalkeeper Matko Obradovic. Their roles underline a simple point: attracting an audience can help establish a club, but players still have to win matches. For a young organisation, turning attention into a functioning team is a significant achievement.
Palm City players training in Dubai. Photo: Chris Whiteoak / The National.
Social media as part of the business
Varahram’s public account, @soheil.var, and the club account, @palmcityfc, make the process of building a team part of its appeal. Training, recruitment and the everyday life of the club give supporters something to follow between results. His official website also offers football training products, reflecting a career that combines sport, communication and enterprise.
In a May 3 interview with The National, he described a “magnet effect”: documenting the work helps potential collaborators discover it. That is a practical idea beneath the upbeat language. A visible project gives people a reason to approach, contribute and stay involved.
In a public post on his own channel, Varahram recalled comments dismissing his early ambitions and contrasted them with the club’s later progress. That is his account of the reaction, rather than an independent survey of public opinion. The trophies provide the firmer measure of what the project has accomplished.
Admiration does not need inflated claims
A club requires funding, people, facilities and relationships. Describing its origin as a dream is inspiring; treating that phrase as an audited account of its finances would be misleading. There is no need to repeat unsupported estimates of Varahram’s personal wealth or the club’s value to make this story interesting.
The more useful lesson is that he combined skills. Playing experience gave him a connection to the sport. Making content helped him communicate. Building partnerships helped turn an individual ambition into an organisation. None of those elements guarantees success, but their combination explains much more than a miraculous rise from nowhere.
The Iranian question: who gets the chance to build?
For Iranian readers, pride in Varahram’s achievements naturally leads to a broader question about opportunity. Iran has footballing ambition of its own, visible in stories such as Zahra Ghanbari and Zahra Khajoui joining Ista Alborz. The challenge is to make talent development and independent enterprise sustainable, for women and men alike.
The Islamic Republic should be judged by the opportunities it creates for that talent: reliable international connections, predictable rules, space for independent organisations and appointments based on competence. A system that wants to benefit from the Iranian diaspora must make collaboration practical, rather than merely celebrate successful Iranians from a distance.
This is a criticism of policy and priorities, not a claim that Varahram personally fled Iran because of political pressure. The documented account is of a child of Iranian parents who grew up abroad. His life does not need to be rewritten to make the policy question legitimate.
Pride in an Iranian success abroad becomes more valuable when it helps open a door for the next young person.
Varahram’s example is encouraging because it expands the idea of a sporting career. A player can become a founder. A storyteller can help build a community around a team. And an Iranian connection can remain a source of pride within a project that brings together people from different backgrounds.
Frequently asked questions:
Is Soheil Varahram Iranian?
He is of Iranian heritage: The National identifies his parents as Iranian. His upbringing and football career developed outside Iran.
Is Soheil Var the same person as Soheil Varahram?
Yes. Soheil Var is the shorter name he uses publicly for his football, content and entrepreneurial work.
What has Palm City FC won?
The club won the UAE Second Division and UAE FA Cup in the 2025–26 season. The Second Division is the third tier of UAE league football, not its top professional league.
What would give more young Iranians the chance to build something of their own in sport? Share your views in the comments below this AsiaNewsIran report.