Background <p>Many athletes who have anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) surgery strive to resume their sport at the level they played before the injury. The purpose of this study was to analyze the short Anterior Cruciate Ligament-Return to Sport after Injury scale (ACL-RSI) version’s cultural adaptation and validity to Persian language.</p> Methods <p>To evaluate test–retest reliability, 140 participants completed the Persian short version of the ACL-RSI twice, with a 7- to 10-day interval between assessments. Also, Internal consistency, and construct validity were assessed.</p> Results <p>The findings indicate that the measure demonstrates excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.92 [0.86 − 0.95]) and strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91). Also, the standard error of measurement and minimum detectable change were determined to be 5.11 and 10.69, respectively. The Persian short version of the ACL-RSI exhibited a strong correlation with the ACL-RSI (<i>P</i> &lt;.001, <i>r</i> =.77), a moderate correlation with the Injury Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport Questionnaire (I-PRRS) (<i>P</i> =.03, <i>r</i> =.51) and a strong negative correlation with the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TKS) (<i>P</i> &lt;.001, <i>r</i> = −.73). Additionally, this short version of the ACL-RSI demonstrated a strong correlation with the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form (IKDC) (<i>P</i> &lt;.001, <i>r</i> =.68) and with the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscales (<i>P</i> &lt;.001, <i>r</i> =.61–0.69).</p> Conclusion <p>The Persian short version of the ACL-RSI is recommended as a reliable and valid tool for assessing psychological readiness for athletes returning to sport following ACL-R.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>