Tehran.

 

Ali Kafashian , the head of Iran’s football Federation , has announced that Team Melli will be taking part in the next West Asian Football Federation t (WAFF) Tournament to be held in Kuwait.

 

Kafashian has mentioned to news agency ISNA , that his administration has discussed with Carlos Queiroz , the Portuguese Team Melli coach on the possibilities of sending the full team to Kuwait. Both sides have studied the merit of participating in WAFF championship, which Iran has dominated since its inception some 12 years ago and finally agreed to it.

The timing of the tournament has been deemed to be appropriate for the participation of the full team taking into account the preparations and the matches in the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualification rounds. Kafashian also added that the period of the tournament falls in the half season league break , which is quite ideal for the players and the clubs. He also advised that some slight date shifting could be possible to accommodate the participation of the team in this upcoming tournament.
The 7th West Asian Football Federation Championship,WAFF C 2012  will be hosted by Kuwait . West Asian Football Federation confirmed the final dates for WAFF.  The tournament will be taking place during 8-20 December 2012. WAFF sent the invitations for the thirteen member associations to confirm their participation. The 6th edition of WAFF championship was held in Jordan in 2010, as Kuwait won the title after winning 2-1 against Iran in the final.

12 member associations confirmed their participation, whom are: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq and UAE. The only country that did not enter this year’s tournament is Qatar. The dates for the draw will be  announced  by WAFF later this coming month.

Amman.

 

The Jordanian FA has announced that an agreement has been reached between Iranian and Jordanian football associations for a friendly match to be held in Amman on September 4th.

Osama Talal , Jordan’s national football Team Manager , was quoted on the Jordan FA official website t Iran FA has responded positively to the request of the Jordanian side and the match will be held in Amman between the two friendly nations (..).

Both Iran and Jordan are involved in the Qualifying stage of the FIFA World Cup 20114.

The last time the two national teams  met in a friendly macth inthe UAE , the result was a 2-2 draw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read article about Iran’s leading scorer and Asian Player of the year in Asian Football Magazine issue May 2000

 

 Nekounam agrees terms with Esteghlal

 

Javad Nekounam has finally signed for Tehran’s Esteghlal club after a prolong negotiation between the two sides. The settlement for the transfer was dependent on Esteghlal paying the penalty for Osasuna as the Iranian National Team Captain has still one year to go on his contract with the La Liga club.

 

Javad Nekounam was  believed to be the highest player in the cash stripped Spanish club and they were desperate to offload him to another club. It is believed that no European club could match Nekounams asking wages while Esteghlal offered quite an attractive package to bring back the ex-PAS club player home after many years playing in the UAE league and the Spanish La Liga.

Nekounam was one of the Pampolana club stars and leaves the club with some fond memories and excellent performances.

 

 

 

Meanwhile , Vahid Hashemian , the ex-Team Melli forward and Perpsolis player , who spent quite a few years in the Bundesliga , has announced his retirement form football at the age of 36.

Hashemian , was not able to gain much  opportunity to play for Perspolis under the Turkish coach , Mostafa Denizli in last year’s disappointing Perspolis team and is believed that the New Portuguese coach has no plans to give him much playing time either.

Tehran –

Iran’s Team Melli fitness trainer Mick McDermott gas resigned his post, The Iranian Football Federations has announced.

Al Nasr club of Dubai have prized away Iran’s fitness trainer Mick McDermott as an assistant to Walter Zenga in charge of the players’ fitness.

McDermott , who previously worked for Al Ain Club in the Emirates, claimed that he was not seeking a job in the UAE and was simply there for a visit. However, when he talked to Walter Zenga , The ex-Italy goalkeeper and current Al Nasr coach, he was persuaded to join the Dubai based club.

McDermott also cited family reason, who are apparently residing  in the UAE , as one of the factors he left his job in Iran alongside Carlos Queiroz.

The Physical trainer who has previously worked with Walter Zenga in Al Ain club , has lasted 15 months with the Portuguese coach in Team Melli. He said that he enjoyed his time in Iran and praised the capabilities of the Iranian players. And added that there is a pool of talented players in Team Melli and he had no problems dealing with anyone of  them .

He also commented that living in Tehran was sometimes challenging while regretted the fact that his separation with Carlos Queiroz and Team Melli might mean that he wasted an opportunity to be in the World Cup finals, and that he does regret.

The 45 years coach, is a former Northern Irish football player and he has played in USL Second Division.(Minor Leagues).  McDermott claimed that due to political reasons, fewer teams are willing to play friendly matches against Iran and for that reason he sympathizes with the Iranian players. McDermott claims are unsubstantiated and in direct contrast to what IFF’s Torabian , at the time the Manager of national Teams , mentioned a few months back that the technical team is reluctant or unwilling to play stronger teams that the IFF has been negotiating with for friendly matches.

Doha

Hadi Aghili , Iran’s national Football team central defender has signed a one year contract with Qatar FC.

The Iranian defender , who is capped 66 times for Team Melli and scored 10 goals playing for his country , has parted company with Al Arabi club of Qatar Soccer League . Aghili joined Al Arabi in the beginning of 2011/12 season from Iranian champions Sepahan Esfahan. He played one season only for Al Arabi club while the low final table position of the club was  one of the reasons the two sides parted company.

 

Qatar is coached by the Brazilian Sebastião Lazaroni . Both Iran and Qatar are in the same group of the FIFA World Cup qualifying group – Asian Zone.

 

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Tehran.

Melli will be camping in Hungary in preparation for the match against Lebanon. Mr.  Ayatollahei Vice President of Iran Football Federation , has confirmed the camp  details and also advised the media that correspondences with Tunisian FA has be initiated in order to arrange a friendly match between Tunisia National Team and Team Melli  with a proposed  date being 13^th August. Mr. Ayatollahei did emphasize that the arrangement has yet to be finalized but he was hopeful to sign an agreement in a few days from now.

Meanwhile,  Sami Al Traboulsi , Tunisian Head Coach confirmed that there is an ongoing  negotiation with the Iranians to arrange a friendly. He said that it will be a perfect opportunity for his team ahead of the encounter with Sierra Leone. Both Iran and Tunisia are involved in the qualification rounds of FIFA World Cup 2012 in Brazil.

 

Iran will be facing Lebanon in Beirut on September , 11th in match day 3 of the Final qualification rounds – Asian Zone. Iran is ranked second behind Korea Republic ahead of Qatar on goal difference.

Tehran

The Iranian football federation (IRFFI) President has demanded the release of his federation’s money blocked by the Americans Government for over a year.

In an act of victimization and in direct contradiction of American & Global stance of separating politics and sport , especially at these days where the spirits of Olympics games is on the ascend  , the US authorities have blacked the transfer of US$ 1 million ,  a sum awarded to the Iranian Football federation by Kuala Lumpur based Asian Football Federation (AFC).  Ali Kafashian has strongly protested this illicit act by the American Government and demanded the immediate release of the funds to his federation which is a Non-Government Organization (NGO) operating under the FIFA regulations.   Kafashian in a statement in Tehran today, said, “ that there is no basis whatsoever for the American Government to black our money. We are a NGO and have nothing to do with politics. We have approached the AFC and several other organizations to persuade the Americans to release our money, which we are desperate to have, to no avail.”

There is no independent confirmation from the US government or any justifications for blocking a foreign NGO fund. However, The tighter trade sanctions recently imposed on Iran and the increasing  American pressure on other nations to follow suit to pressurize the Islamic Republic to abandon its  Nuclear program , measures which  includes forcing other nations and foreign  corporations all across the world  to stop dealing with Iran , has also extended to sanction against sport federations.

The American political pressure in Iran has ultimately created an increasing number of cases of discrimination against Iranian-Americans such as the case of , Sahar Sabet, a 19-year-old Iranian-American woman, who was improperly prevented from buying an iPad at an Apple store in Alpharetta, Ga. Because she spoke Persian! There is also a major case brewing in Canada where many Iranian-Canadians in Vancouver accused TD Bank Group of discriminating against the community by abruptly closing their bank accounts. Historically and ultimately , political events  have influenced and  threatens to affect people’s  behavior resulting in discriminatory acts against  Iranian community in the west.

The United Arab Emirates has extended an array of unilateral and multilateral measures that ban Iranian oil imports as well as trade and financial transactions with the Islamic republic and freeze Iranian assets to the soccer pitch.

UAE clubs have been ordered to no longer sign Iranian players in a bid to not only force Iran to compromise on its controversial nuclear development program but also to end its four decade-old occupation of three potentially oil-rich islands located near key shipping routes at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran Football Federation (IFF) president Ali Kafashian. There was no immediate UAE response to Mr. Kafashian’s comments in an interview with Iranian news agency ISNA.

Mr. Kafashian said the UAE boycott had led to Dubai-based Al Wasl FC refusing to renew its contract with Iranian midfielder Mohammad Reza Khalatbari. Similarly Al Sharjah FC failed to renew Iman Mobali and Ras al-Khaimah’s Emirates Club has let Pejman Nouri go.

The informal boycott of Iranian players follows the UAE’s cancellation in April of a friendly match against the Islamic republic and the recalling of its ambassador from Tehran.

Football sanctions are unlikely to soften Iran’s rejection of Western demands that it compromise on its nuclear program or UAE calls to return the disputed islands. Nonetheless, the UAE’s focus on the three islands comes at a moment that the Strait of Hormuz is taking center stage in the international community’s tug of war with the Islamic republic.

Ali Kafashian stated that Team Melli has not responded well to the aspiration of its fans and therefore Carlos Queiroz has been warned.

In an interview given to The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Ali Kafashian talking about the chances of Team Melli’s for qualification to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil explained, “ The team had good preparations and played lots of games. The Team performed well in the preliminary qualification rounds until the last two games (Uzbekistan & Qatar). In the past two games the players were not worthy of their national team status. We have two objectives to meet with the team, the qualification to the World Cup and second in the World Cup itself ,  playing well against strong teams.

“Just going to Brazil to appear in the World Cup is not important , we need to perform well and be strong in all the games. That is very important. When we observe Korea and Japan , we see that they are going forward with high confidence, but this is not evident in the Iranian national team. Team Melli has to meet the demands of people and we hope this is the case and the team performs better next time. I was really scared while watching the game with Uzbekistan. We warned Carlos Queiroz about that poor performance , but he also had his excuse and attributed the poor performance to poor preparation and because of the intense league program.

Asked if the administration meets with Queiroz to assist his preparation for Qualifying the finals , Kafashian responded that the federation has done everything possible to support Queiroz including cancelling of the Hazfi cup to give him time to prepare since he complained previously about like of preparation time. On top of our League matches , we also need to abide by the AFC program as there are few commitments that we have no option but to meet such as the AFC Champions League. We asked AFC to re-schedule the Champions League dates to allow more time for  Team Melli preparation. We have a crucial period starting September and have arranged at least two friendly matches for Team Melli.

Kafashian on a TV sports programs in response to the question whether these major changes in the Iran’s football program is worth it ? Stated: We have the World Cup once every four years and to qualify for that tournament is very important to us. However, the Cup and League games are held every year and we should not give excuses to the technical staff. They all wanted to cooperate this year, so the technical and development committee of experts and members have requested the Federation to help Queiroz. I accept that if you go to the World Cup, but the result is poor , it will be difficult. Even if we play well, but fail to qualify for the World Cup , people will not feel bad , but if we qualify but perform badly and concede four goals from Mexico , it reflects badly on us all.

About supporting football federation officials of the UAE Federation in their run for the Presidency of the AFC, Kafashian stated: Chairman of the UAE federation, is also the AFC competitions’ chairman. Our people have to discuss various issues with him and also exchange  views. Our Federation members also went to the UAE to share some ideas with them. It is all about collaboration, but the case of cancelling the friendly match is closed as we did not want to pursue it any further. That cancellation was based purely on political act. However, they need our cooperation, we do not need them.

Football Federation confirmed the presence of Iranian players have been banned in the UAE, said since the opening of the market for our players to the Persian Gulf states , our football have suffered and we have no interest in it. However , UAE has boycotted Iranian player again based on politics. It is a blessing in disguise quite like the boycott by the United States which is making our nations even more stronger and self-reliant. The sanctions are our gains.

He also delivered a warning to the clubs in regards to the professional licensing documents for submission to the AFC, Kafashian emphasized: this is only a warning, the club have to send to the AFC all relevant documents of all the Iranian league clubs in order to gain their professional license in Asia and operate as a company. To date, 85 percent of our documents are ready and to prepare these documents , they should be delivered tomorrow and we will subsequently send them to the AFC.

Kafashian also emphasized that he does not have any role in the votes issued by the disciplinary committee, he added: I also criticized the disciplinary committee decisions. There was a long delay in ruling on the Futsal case which eventually resulted in the second team Gitipasand went to represent us in Asia. Gitipasnd been successful in Asia and reached the final time that I say congratulations to them.