Author: Editor

The bitter reality of Iranian football

The poor showing of Iranian clubs in the AFC Champions League has resulted in many criticisms and demands for change.

Masoud Eghbali, a football expert and FIFA instructor, talked to Mehr about the performance of the four Iranian clubs representatives in the AFC Champions League currently being played in Doha, Qatar. He was particularly critical with the appointment of the coaches of these clubs and considered some most of the appointments as irresponsible, amateurish, and indicative of a lack of insight and knowledge.

The format of the competition has been changed due to the COVID19 pandemic, The remaining group matches and next round plus the next round of the AFC west division has been arranged like a mini tournament in Doha,

Iran is represented by Perspolis, Esteghlal, Sepahan, and Shahr Khodro. The latter two teams have been eliminated from the competition however, Persepolis and Esteghlal still stand a slim chance in the final group games.

Eghbali commented: “The appointment of Mehdi Rahmati (Shar Khodro) and Moharram Navidkia (Sepahan) who have no qualification whatsoever as coaches and neither have attended any coaching courses as head coaches of teams that are playing in Asian competition, makes a mockery of football and its principles. It is only natural that these inexperienced coaches will fail and it is clear for even the average football fan to predict their failures against the top clubs in Asia who invest in the best coaches in the world.”

“Our football is facing deep-rooted and fundamental issues. While in the few last decades, Asian football has experienced rapid movement forward, our football has snoozed in the memories of past successes and proudly stood still and even retreated in many cases. We have to accept this reality, even though it is bitter. The bitter truth about our football is that we are years behind the top tier of Asian football. Just look at the facilities of Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and many other Asian countries and compare it with our football facilities. You will instantly recognize the vast gap in infrastructure and our shortfalls. Korea and Japan have hosted the World Cup in the past, and Qatar is set to host the next World Cup. Look at the stadiums in Iran, we do not even have one such high standard facility in comparison. In terms of investment, it is not possible to catch up with these developed countries. In football management, we are light years behind the Asian competition and that is where it really hurts. Technically, the results of our clubs and national teams is evident as it show that we are not at the top tier of Asian football anymore. We are at best second tier, drifting down to third if drastic measures are not taken to address the shortfalls”

If football in the developed Asian countries stagnates at the standards where it is today and makes no progress, and there is a revolution in our football that progresses and develops rapidly in the fields of structure, technology, facilities, investment, and management, we may require 15 years later to catch up with the top tier Asian countries like to reach Japan, Korea, and Qatar.”

“We still look at football as a ‘game’ while the world sees this sport as a ‘sport, industry, business, economy and politics’. We must change our mentality and mindset with regard to football. As long as our clubs are the playground and backyard of political leaders and they look at it as “a heavy burden in every way”, as long as we do not invest enough in it, as long as we do not become proactive, honest, and dedicated to the sport rather than using it as a tool for political propaganda or personal gains, the status quo will remain and this football will not improve, perhaps even drop further. This current situation means a large distance between us and the top level of Asia and it will be more and more evident day by day.

Honestly, with this situation of our football, there will be hardly any progress and it remains only at the level of a (childish) game and entertainment.”

Roozbeh Cheshmi to sign with Umm Salal in Qatar

Alkass TV Channel  Qatar claimed that Roozbeh Cheshmi, Team Melli, and Esteghlal Tehran defender, had signed a contract with Umm Salal.

In Tehran, the news was circulating that the player has signed an extension of his contract with his present club Esteghlal however, Roozbeh Cheshmi seems to have reached an agreement with a Qatari club. Alkass Twitter feed quoted private sources confirming that Umm Salal has indeed signed a contract Cheshmi.

It is understood that Cheshmi is still in the Esteghlal squad in Doha, Qatar preparing for the match against Al-Shurta in the Asian Champions League. 4 Iranian clubs are taking part in the AFC Champions League in Doha, Persepolis, Esteghlal, Sepahan and Shahr Khodro. The latter has already been eliminated while the other 3 still stand a chance of qualifying to the next round.

Saman Ghoddos heading to the Championship outfit Brentford.

Brentford agreed a deal with Amiens to sign attacking midfielder Saman Ghoddos.

The Ligue 2 outfit has given the Team Melli player the green light to leave the club after their relegation from France’s top flight last season as per a contract clause.

A source at Brentford has told Football Insider that the 27-year-old has already undertaken his medical over in France and that the move is set to be completed shortly. Ghoddos will have to undergo the mandatory 2 weeks self-quarantine as per British regulation on new arrivals into the country.

Ghoddos has been a long-term target for Bees boss Thomas Frank and the Championship outfit tried to sign the playmaker last summer.

However, he remained with Amiens but spent most of the season on the sidelines through both suspension and injury as the club were relegated.

He was suspended from playing for four months and fined by FIFA after he reneged on a written contract with Spanish outfit SD Huesca to move to France.

Having returned to action back in January this year, he suffered a hip injury which kept him sidelined for seven league games and he managed to make just two more appearances before the French football season was cut short.

The 21-cap international star now looks set to bolster Brentford’s side as Frank’s men look to bounce back from their play-off disappointment last season. The team is one of the challengers for promotion to the premier league this season.

Brentford kicked off the 20/21 campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham, although they progressed to the next round of the League Cup with a 2-0 win over Southampton.

Marítimo, Ali Alipour’s next destination.

As reported earlier, Persepolis is facing a major exodus of its star player out of the team and country. The Portuguese newspaper Record has said that  Marítimo is almost assured of recruiting the Brazilian right-back Cláudio Winck, who terminated his contract with Vasco da Gama and will sign for 3 seasons; and the Iranian striker Ali Alipour, ex-Persepolis, who has an agreement for 2 seasons and is waiting for his visa to travel to Portugal.

This news comes as Persepolis is struggling financially and is in a perilous situation with piles of court cases against it for non-payment. Mehdi Torabi has left the Team to Qatar while other players are awaiting contracts abroad.

Ali Alipour has been chased by Rio Ave as a replacement for his compatriot Mehdi Taremi who left to join FC Porto. This is the first time Marítimo was mentioned as a destination for Persepolis’ top scorer.

Mehdi Torabi heading to QSL side Al Arabi Club.

The Qatari sports publication Ustad Al-Doha reported on Saturday that Persepolis midfielder Mehdi Torabi is on the final stages of signing an agreement with Al-Arabi Club. According to the source, Mehdi Torabi is preparing to depart Iran to play in the Qatar Stars League QSL after he terminated his contract with the reigning champion Persepolis.

Ustad Al-Doha announced the news on its Twitter page and confirmed that Mehdi Torabi has reached a final agreement with Al-Arabi Club and is expected to join the team in the next few days. Al-Arabi Club which has Mehrdad Mohammadi in its squad and the presence of these two Iranian players in this team will be of great interest to Iranian fans. Al-Arabi drew 2-2 in their first match in the new season of the Qatar Stars League.

Team Melli midfielder, Torabi was singled out by Carlos Queiroz the former Team Melli coach as the one player that should be playing outside of Iran. His comments during the AFC Asian Cup 2019 was in praise of the player who was still in the domestic league. Perspolis and most of the Iranian clubs are in serious financial trouble and have been taken to courts or arbitration by many former players and coaches for failing to pay the wages as per contract. Persepolis has recently asked the Central Bank of Iran for a loan of  380,000 Euros to pay for former coach Branko Ivankovic after being ordered to by CAS. The club has no collateral or any significant assets for such loans but huge outstanding liabilities.

More players are expected to leave Persepolis.

Team Melli friendlies with Uzbekistan & Tajikistan re-arranged.

On recommendation from FIFA and due to the postponement of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers, Uzbekistan friendly match which was supposed to be played on 8th September has been put off for a month and will therefore be played in Bunyoudkar Stadium on 8th October.

Meanwhile, FFIRI has finalized arrangements for another friendly 4 days later after the Uzbekistan match when Team Melli will host Tajikstan in Azadi on the 12th of October. These will be the first Team Melli matches under the new coach  Dragan Skočić,

the Croat has yet to meet Team Melli as a group in any training session. However, he traveled to several places to meet individual players or observe them in action.

Taremi signs for FC Porto

TEHRAN, Sep. 01  – Primeira Liga’s defending champion FC Porto announced the signing of Team Melli striker of Rio Ave Mehdi Taremi on a four-year contract.

Porto has reportedly paid around €4.5m plus 25-year-old forward Andre Pereira for this transfer.

The Iranian striker impressed Portugal’s league with 21 goals and five assists in the last season, being named one of the top goal scorers of the league. He had reportedly been under the radar of other Portuguese giants including Sporting Lisbon and Benfica.

Porto hopes to defend its title with goals that will be added by Taremi.

After signing the deal, Taremi said he seeks to score more than 20 goals for Porto in the next season. The team’s aim is to win the league’s and Taça de Portugal’s title in the coming year, he added.

OnWednesday, FC Porto defeated Académica 5-1 a training game held at the Olival internship center, in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto District, with Sérgio Conceição using 24 players including the new signing Mehdi Taremi.

Serjik Teymourian passes away

The brother of former Team Melli captain, Serjik Teymourian (46) passed away this morning in Tehran after suffering fatal injuries in a motorcycle crash.

Serjik who was born in Tehran on 29th May 1974, started his football career like most Iranian-Armenian players with Ararat. He was soon discovered by Esteghlal and joined the famous club in 1993. He played from p Esteghlal until the season 1998 where he joined the Bundesliga team Mainz 05. He was in Germany for two seasons.

Serjik played several international selection games for Tehran and Iran XI teams.

God bless his soul.

 

Omid Team to start the long road to Olympics in earnest.

Iran will kickstart their 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers campaign from 22nd March in Tehran. The team, known as Omid Team, is under the guidance of the seasoned Croat coach Zlatko Krancjar and will lock horns against Turkmenistan in their first match before crossing swords against Yemen two days later and finally, their strongest rival, Iraq on 26th March.

Omid team held has held a series of training sessions and camps including playing friendly games against Syria and Jordan prior to the competition. Omid Team also played in a competition in Qatar where three U-23 teams took part. Iran won the title of that round ribbon tournament.

Tehran is hosting Group C of 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers

 In preparation for the matches starting tomorrow, a post-match conference was held at the National Iranian National Football Center’s conference hall where all the coaches expressed optimism for their team’s chances while Iraqi and Yemeni coach criticized the AFC plans for the Olympic Games qualifiers.

At the beginning of the press conference, Turkmen coach Bayram Dordayiev said: “I know Iran’s football quite well, since I worked in Iran for several years. Iran’s football has a a colorful history and has produced players such as Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Ali Parvin in its history. Football is strong and powerful in this country. Iran is strong in the Olympics age group and has a youth team that plays well in defense and attack. We have a tough group. Iran and Iraq are powerful teams and we have information about them. Ultimately, the result of any match cannot be predicted but only the playing field will dictate the victorious and superior team.”

Iran’s coach, Zlatko Krancjar, said: “First of all, I wish to congratulate everyone on the occasion of the Persian New Year and welcome my colleagues from Turkmenistan, Yemen and Iraq to Iran. Apart from Iraq, we do not know adequate knowledge about the other two teams, we only know the Iraqi team and played two games and hopefully in the coming days we will be able to get the necessary knowledge of the other competitors.”

About the final list of 23 players in the squad, Head coach or Iran U23 team, Krancjar said  “We should announce the list beforehand. We set up this list, and the promise is that it can deliver our objectives. Some clubs did not cooperate with the team by holding their players.  Apart from the damage that was done because of that, there is no particular problem in the team. We were looking at the legionnaires, but the domestic players were better and more prepared”

Referring to the use of players outside the Iranian league, he said ” We have Reza Shekari from Russia but  we do not have Younis Delphi due to injury.”

Iraqi coach Abdul Ghani Shahid said: “We have great hopes to qualify. We succeeded in qualifying to the Rio Olympics in the last competition and hope we can repeat it again. Many think that Iraq and Iran will qualify from this group, but I believe the standards are too close to call. Asian Football Confederation has made a strange plan for the tournament. The AFC, which always pays particular attention to the quality of the players and the quality of the tournament, holds tournaments in tandem, and this affects the quality of the work. We did not use adult players in the tournament because they were engaged in the AFC Asian Cup with the senior team and subsequently entered this competition without them by using younger players.”

Yemeni coach Sammy Na’ash also spoke at the press conference “We are in a tough and strong group. The two teams from Iraq and Iran have a special lead in this group. The AFC’s planning for this tournament is not desirable, and competitions are held with the least rest for the players. We started the preparation program very late and we encountered a lot of problems, but we are doing our best to produce a good and decent performance.”

Year ends with no achievements for Iran!

The Persian year is coming to an end and Iran’s football has absolutely nothing to show for it, zilch. This is unless you consider that Team Melli jersey is selected as one of the candidates for most attractive national teams jersey design in a Marca poll  according to ISNA , is something to brag about !!

Football dominates all other sports in Iran a country which has an acute passion for sports and athletes.  Amongst a plethora of sports some which has rich tradition in world and Olympics titles, football and footballers  have the lion share of the government funds channeled into it. Ironically, it has the least achievements, trophies or accolades of them all. Not only the Islamic government almost entirely bankrolls football clubs in Iran, directly or indirectly,  and the football federation (FFIRI) ,  Team Melli is wholly dependent on the government hand out for survival.

The immediate impacts of American sanctions on the Iranian economy are apparent as oil production and GDP growth are collapsing, Iran’s currency is weakening, and inflation is picking up. Longer-term impacts remain to be seen. People have suffered and sacrificed a lot. In such a dire economic environment , there are much more priorities that affect the citizens wellbeing.

Yet , the government still pumped relatively big money into football hoping that this sport yields some success and bring joy for a nation that has very little to cheer about.  However, very little success was experienced by the fans in Iranian football and the 43 years dream wait for the Asian Cup title has just extended for another 4 years. The apex of the achievements at club level was Persepolis being finalist of the Asian Championship League 2018 and at National Team Level, elimination from the group stages of the FIFA World Cup 2018 and defeat against Japan in the Semi-final of the AFC Asian Cup 2019. The rest of representatives at age levels came out empty handed too.

The Irony of all this non-achievement is the people concerned in football from players to coaches’ and top administrators complain about lack of facilities and funds channeled into football. No doubt that this mentality was instigated by the former coach Carlos Queiroz injudicious and  constant reference to huge amount of money that rich nations such as Japan, China and Korea   spend on their football!

For all those in the know , however, football problems in Iran go well beyond funds and starts right at the fundamentals. Football is badly managed in Iran and completely owned and controlled by the government. And as it happens, the government is not very well versed at running football and its proxies running clubs and federations are not too skilled either.

One short example in hundreds, is the current situation with Team Melli. Over a year ago, the powers of football decided that Carlos Queiroz will not coach Iran beyond the Asian Cup 2018. 3 months has passed since the end of the Asian Cup, and the wise men of the FFIRI are still widely chasing someone to take over from Queiroz.!!! While the rest of the world are taking advantage of FIFA international break for friendly matches or official competitions, Team Melli is on extended holiday with no coach, no friendly matches and unknown future.

Now, if that is not the apathy of management and downright incompetency , then I don’t know what is.

 

Happy Nowrooz.