Arian Group – Ay Javidan Iran

In his day, this goalkeeper is simply unbeatable. Last week , in Beirut when Lebanon hosted Korea Republic, Abbas Hassan, single handedly stopped the mighty Koreans with at least 10 saves, including several split of a second reflexes. No matter how they tried and how much pressure they exerted on the Lebanese defense , there was simply a great barrier wall called Abbas Hassan who defied the Korean Professionals.

No matter how hard The seasoned and the professional players of the Korea National Football team tried, they just could not put the ball past one Abbas Hassan, the Lebanese goalkeeper who plays for the Swedish side IF Elfsborg .  Eventually , deep into added time and on the 97^th minute of the match , the Koreans scored from a free kick given away right outside the box. The irony of that goal was that the ball took a deflection thus wrong footing the hero Abbas.

Abbas Hassan is relatively a new face in Lebanese football. The 28 years old has played all his football in his adopted country Sweden. He started his career in his current club IF Elfsborg  in 2005 before joining Danish side Aalborg BK (loan) and then in 2010 he joined the Swedish Superettan club IFK Norrköping on a short term contract to replace the injured goalkeeper David Nilsson.

He finally singed for IFK Norrköping and played for them from 2011–2012 before returning to his original club IF Elfsborg  .

Abbas Hassan only made his debut in January 2012 against Iraq. His climb to instant fame, though was against none other than Team Melli when the heroics and the reflexes of this keeper prevented the Iranians from scoring and helping his team to register a historic win in the FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifiers. It was Iran’s only defeat to Lebanon.

Abbas was also in the receiving end of the Iranian wrath when he was beaten 5 times and collected the ball from the back of his nets during Iran’s 5-0 victory in Azadi.

What will be a great challenge for Team Melli players, is none other than Abbas Hassan. As proven by both the Korean and the Iranian players, penetrating through the Lebanese defense lines, is not a daunting task, but facing the goalie Abbas Hassan is entirely a different battle. Whether Abbas will be at his best in Azadi is a challenge worthy of watching. The Lebanon goalkeeper could make the difference.

Team Melli midfielder, Abolghasim Dehnavi has been suspended from all football activities, including participation in Team Melli training and matches, until further notice. The move was announced today by IRIFF disciplinary committee after receiving a written complaint from Perspolis club against the player.

In its letter to the federation, Pesrpolis claims that Dehnavi, who was Tractorsazi player last season and became a free agent at the end of the season, has signed an “Internal agreement” with Perspolis, however after this binding contract, Dehnavi negotiated with Sepahan Esfahan and singed yet another contract with the Esfahani club to be a player with them next season!

Esmaeil Hassanzadeh, a spokesman for the IRIFF disciplinary committee announced that the grievance and the evidence provided to the committee by Perspolis club is authentic and admissible, however , a full verdict cannot be reached without listening to the other party (the player). Based on the documents provided, the IFF announces the full suspension of Dehnavi from all football related activities until the hearing date which is set on 22nd June 2013.

Perspolis is claiming damages as a result of Dehnavi’s act.

It has become a common practice for players to sign for several clubs in what is known to be an “Internal agreement”. The full extent and authenticity of such contract is still a grey area. While some sources refer to these as verbal semiofficial agreement similar to an MOU (memorandum of understanding) other sources call it an official and binding contract. These problems occur on monotonous and regular basis, but neither the federation nor the courts in Iran are willing to clear the situation as what is referred to “Internal agreement” is still in the grey area of the law.

According to Sporte360 website, Mohammed Reza Khalatbary, the much travelled Iranian player, has signed with Ajman Club of the UAE.

The website reporting from Dubai, said that “Ajman have completed the signing of former Al Wasl forward Mohammad Reza Khalatbary while coach Abdulwahab Abdulkadir and striker Boris Kabi have both signed contract extensions.

Khalatbary – who spent six months on loan at the Zabeel Stadium under Diego Maradona – has joined the Orange Brigade on a one-year deal from Sepahan.”

There was strong rumors that the Iranian sport authorities have vetoed all transfers of Iranian players to the UAE after this country, notorious for its political intimidation and taking every opportunity to enroll political issues into football affairs, has called their league “Arab  Gulf” in defiance to Iran and international conventions. This unconfirmed move by the Iranians apparently stopped several Iranian players’ transfers. Players such as Javad Nekounam , Pejman Montazeri and Arash Borhani amongst others, were in active negotiation with different UAE Pro League clubs.

FIFA rules clearly stipulate that political interferences and influences are not permitted in football and have strongly applied such rules globally.

The problem is that FIFA statutes and those of Third World and totalitarian countries, where government and sporting officials are often one and the same, can be in direct conflict. Article 13.1 (g) of FIFA’s official rule book states that national federations are obliged “to manage their affairs independently and ensure that their own affairs are not influenced by any third parties.”

In all of the Middle East countries and without any exception, the football associations are all extensions of the government authorities and strictly follow the government party line without prejudice.

UAE foreign policy has a marked anti-Iranian flavor to it, partially due to the UAE claims to the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf. Such policies and the UAE government rhetoric have influence several un-sportsmanship and illicit acts by the UAE football federation such as canceling a friendly match against Iran (read official announcement below), cancellation of a match between Iraq and Iran in Dubai and banning of Iranian players transfer to UAE league. To circumnavigate a possible reaction by FIFA the UAE government quietly told the clubs that it will not issue visas and resident permits for Iranian players, which effectively meant the clubs were unable to recruit Iranians.

 The announcement of Khalatbary’s transfer to Ajman is hence quite a surprise taking into the consideration the prevailing circumstances and the volatile

Yousef Al Serkal, Chairman of the Interim Committee of the UAE Football Association has announced the cancellation of a friendly match of the UAE’s first national football team against Iran, which was scheduled for next Tuesday, April 17, at the Fujairah Club Stadium in preparation for future ties.

The cancellation of the game has appeared on the website of the UAE Football Association, in solidarity with the official position of the state on denouncing the visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UAE Island of Abu Musa, which has been occupied by Iran since 1971. – Emirates News Agency, WAM