Tag: Mehdi Mahdavikia

Omid Team Squad announced

The FFIRI website announced that Mehdi MahdaviKia, the head coach of the Omid team, announced the final names of the U23 squad to participate in the Iraq training camp and the U-23 championship in Uzbekistan.

After replacing Reza Kakhsaz and Parsa Jafari. The two goalkeepers of Peykan and Zobahan instead of Sina Saeedifar and Alireza Rezaei, the goalkeepers of Esteghlal, announced the following: Amir Ali Sadeghi (Esteghlal) Yasin Salmani, Arya Yousefi (Sepahan) Alireza Bavieh, Mohammad Amin Hezbavi (Foolad Khuzestan) Reza Kakhsaz , Erfan Shahriari Khalaji, Saman Fallah Vernami (Peykan) Parsa Jafari, Milad Kerr, Mohammad Hossein Eslami, Mohammad Khodabandeh Lou (Zobahan) Payam Parsa, Ahmad Shariatzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Zavari (Naft Abadan) Mohammad Ghorbani (Nasiji Mazandaran) Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi, Mehdi Hashemnejad (Naft Masjed Soleyman) Amir Jafari Siglani (Shahr Khodro) Ali Javad Kalmarzi Sabet (Roda JC Netherlands) Yadegar Rostami (playing in the Polish league) Bilal Arazi, Ali Pilaram (South Pars) Alireza Khodaei (Saipa)

How Iran fared against the opponents ?

Iran’s records against the teams of the group are quite healthy and that is quite a boost for Team Melli players ahead of the first game on November, 21st.

Team Melli played four times against possible and actual opponents. England remains the only team that has not faced Iran before. Team Melli managed 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss to the teams in the preliminary group.

By far the biggest and most famous result against the opponents here was in Lyon on 21st June 1998 when Iran beat USA 2-1 in one of the most anticipated matches of the 1998 World Cup. Estili and Mahdavikia were the heroes of the day scoring for Iran. But 20 years before that in Argentina, when the world cup had only 16 elite participationg teams, Team Melli gained a famous draw with overhyped Scotland or the Tartan Army coached by Ally McCloud who was promising the Scotland team will return home lifting the World Cup before a ball was even kicked. The Scottish team was a star spangle group of the best player in the English First Division, the predecessor of the Premiere League.

Team Melli also played a single match against Ukraine in a friendly international which at the time was making a name for itself in European football, in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Ali Daei scored the only goal of the match.

Iran’s loss to Wales came in a friendly match in the Araymehr Stadium and was part of the team’s preparation for the Argentine 1978 World Cup.

USA asked Iranian for a friendly in the states in 2000 hoping to get revenge for the loss in Lyon two years before. This match was played in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California in front of 50,000 fans. Mahdi Mahdavikia was once again the scourge of the American team when he scored early in the sixth minute of the match. US team equalized through Armas in the second half, the match ending in a 1-1 draw with the USA not being able to exact revenge.

So, for all intent and purposes, Team Melli has no psychological disadvantage in preparing for the World Cup. Such head-to-head results should boost Iran’s hopes of qualifying from the group stages for the first time in history.

Head2Head Table

OPPONENT P W D L GD
England 0 0 0 0 0
USA 2 1 1 0 1
Wales 1 0 0 1 -1
Scotland 1 0 1 0 1
Ukraine 1 1 0 0 1

 

Mahdavikia leads Iran in a difficult Asian U23 group

Tashkent: Korea Republic will open their defense of the AFC U23 Asian Cup title in Group C following the conclusion of the Uzbekistan 2022 Finals draw in Tashkent on Thursday.
Joining the Korea Republic, which defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 in 2020 final, will be the ASEAN trio of Thailand, 2018 runners-up Vietnam and Malaysia.
Hosts Uzbekistan, the 2018 champions, will have Iran, Qatar, and newcomers Turkmenistan to contend with in Group A.
Australia, third in the 2020 edition, was drawn in Group B with Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait while Japan, the 2016 champions, are in Group D with 2020 runners-up Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and debutants Tajikistan.

AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 – Official Draw

The fifth edition of the Championship will be played in Central Asia for the first time, with Uzbekistan hosting 32 matches across the cities of Tashkent and Karshi.
Four former champions and nine teams to have reached the semi-finals or better within the last decade alongside two debutants will battle for Continental supremacy from June 1 to 19.
Iran’s Omid team will be led by former star Mehdi Mahdavikia. Although at this level of football, there are no weak teams, Iran’s Omid is in one of the more difficult groups, especially in the presence of the host and the strong Qatari team. Mhadavikia is handling the difficult task of leading Iran for the Olympics with this team, which has eluded Iran for more than four decades.
Group A
Uzbekistan (UZB) – Iran (IRN)- Qatar (QAT) -Turkmenistan (TKM)
Date Time Teams Venue
Wednesday, 1st June 2022 18:00  Iran v. Qatar    Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent
20:00  Uzbekistan v. Turkmenistan Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Saturday 4th June 2022  18:00  Turkmenistan v.  Iran    Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent
20:00   Qatar v. Uzbekistan  Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Tuesday 7th June 2022 22:00  Qatar v. Turkmenistan    Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent
22:00  Uzbekistan v. Iran    Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi

The never ending lies and decption of the officials!

While the Omid Team is in turmoil and the scheduled team training in FIFA Day was not held due to the pending administrative and contractual issues ( non-payment of coaches salaries and not finalizing and signing of the contracts) which lead to the cancellation of the Omid Training Camp, the president of the football federation FFIRI and the president of the National Olympic Committee denied all those facts and turned them upside down claiming that Omid Team is progressing well

The camp of the national Olympic football team (Omid) was supposed to be held under the supervision of Mehdi Mahdavikia from the 25th January to the 1st February, but this camp was never commenced due to lack of necessary planning by the Football Federation and non-conclusion of the national team coaches contracts including Mehdi Mahdavikia himself and his assistants!

However, Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, president of the Football Federation FFIRI, and Seyed Reza Salehi Amiri, president of the National Olympic Committee NOC, as the team’s trustees, denied any wrongdoing, saying that the National Olympic team had no problems whatsoever!!. “The Omid team is doing its job according to plan. We participated in the Central Asian Games and will go to Uzbekistan. This federation is different from the ones before in that it has already started the preparation of Omid team for the Paris Olympics, which we have already done,” Azizi Khadem said. “It was not like that before. I hope the Omid national team gets better conditions. We have to go to Uzbekistan for the final of the Asian Championship in June. We hope Mahdavikia will start working soon again according to the plans.”

          • Mahdavikia pays his assistants wages from his own pocket.
          • The one-week training camp in Kish Isle was canceled 
          • Director of communication of Omid Team resigns.
          • Azizi-Khadem in full denial

A day before this statement, Salehi Amiri had said: “I am in contact with Azizi Khadem. Mahdavikia is also seriously pursuing and organizing, and I personally believe that the Omid team, given its capacity in the football community and its presence. The well-respected coach that this team has, we will shine in Hangzhou.”

A few hours later after Sazlehi-Amiri’s statement and assurance, that the media director of the Omid national team submitted his resignation,

Pointing to many problems in the national Olympic (Omid) team in a text he posted on his personal Instagram page, the director said  “the contracts of the head coach and assistant coaches of the Omid national team have not been signed even after about five months from initial agreement on the contents. This is what was supposed to happen after the recent meeting of the Board of Directors of the Football Federation, but has not been done yet, and this is only one of the aggravations and problems of the technical staff of the Iranian U-23 national team.

“The non-payment of players’ bonuses, the cancellation of the national team camps (which was supposed to be held on Kish Island with matches against foreign teams) as well as the uncertainty of the team’s manager and coaches are among the events that led to the cancellation of the team’s recent camp. On hearing the cancellation of the camp, the foreign coaches did not travel to Iran!”

The media director wrote in his message that “Mahdavikia paid the salaries of his three foreign assistants out of his own pocket so that the non-commitment and lack of obligation in the football federation would not take on an international dimension!”

“Mahdavi’s Assistants had participated in the Asian Under-23 qualifiers from September to November 2021 without any contract. In this turbulent situation that is not hidden from anyone,”

Azizi Khadem and Salehi Amiri, with their lack of honesty, sweet talk their way on how their respective organizations are determined to succeed in the Asian U23 Championship and the Asian Games with such confidence to the degree of promising the fans to finally end the spell of consecutive failures of over 40 years of Omid Team failure to qualify for the Olympics. It looks like they both believe that by turning the facts upside down and living in denial, no one notices the shortcomings and broken promises, disrespect for the contracts. While it seems like a standard operating procedure for preparing the Omid or the Iranian Olympics team, and after about half a century, professional planning, commitment, financial support needed for the success of this team is still lacking big time. Instead, lies, denials, deception, and delusion is still rife from those inept personnel running football and other sports affair in Iran.

Like the Persian proverb goes “It’s the same soup and the same bowl”!

Mahdavikia resigns from FFIRI Technical Committee

A report on an Iranian sports website has claimed that Mehdi Mahdavikia, the former Team Melli player and the current Head Coach of Omid Team, has resigned his post as a member of the federation’s Technical Committee.

“Tarafdari ” claims that not only Mahdavikia is not willing to be a part of the committee he has shown reluctance in continuing his work with Omid Team (U23) too.

This site writes that FIFA  has sent an invitation to MahdaviKia as the representative of Iran to attend the online meeting of the technical directors of the football federations of the member states, however, in response to this invitation, Mahdavikia said that he is no longer the technical director of FFIRI.

After Mahdavikia’s response to FIFA that he is no longer representing Iran, the world governing football body sends a letter to the Football Federation of Iran FFIRI inquiring about this and asking the Football Federation to introduce a replacement for MahdaviKia to attend the FIFA online meeting.

The expectation is that there are currently two candidates who can represent the FFIRI in this virtual meeting. Mirshad Majedi, the chairman of the Youth Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the Football Federation, and Bijan Zolfagharansab, who has recently become the chairman of the “Technical and Development Committee” of the Football Federation. The latter’s post is more appropriate for the subject of the meeting.

Earlier, ZolfagharNasab had also announced that he had not been notified of the decision to select him for this post and that it was only speculation.

While Mahadvikia quitting his post is indicative of internal disagreements in the “Technical and Development Committee” or a dispute between Mahdavikia and the FFIRI management, the role of the Technical Committee has been marginalized and damaged during the Queiroz era. It is effectively toothless with no power or authority to do anything of worth to develop football at any level in Iran.

The fact that Mahadvikia agreed to join, was surprising knowing that the committee is no more than a formality and suffers a distinct lack of transparency.

There was no confirmation on the FFIRI website confirming or denying this information.

Omid Team to start a training camp alongside Team Melli.

The Omid National Team Camp begins at the same time as the Team Melli at the National Team Camp. According to ISNA, with the plans made by the technical staff and the announcement of Mohammad Mohammadi, the head of the Omid national football team, the camp of this team will start on the 24th or 25th of January, and players under the age of 23 will be called to the national team camp after three months. . The Omid national team camp will be held at the same time as the senior national team camp – which is preparing to meet Iraq and the UAE in the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers – and MahdaviKia’s boys will hold several training sessions and two preparatory matches for a week.

According to the plan, two Premier League teams will be the opponents of the Omid national team, to help the U23/Olympic team prepare better. Mehdi Mahdavikia and his assistants will arrive in Tehran in around the 21st of January. Previously, the work visas of three foreign assistants of Mahdavikia have been issued b

In the period between the departure of Mahdavikia and his assistants from Iran, the games played in the Premier League have been regularly reviewed and analyzed. One of Mahdavikia’s assistants has been assigned to evaluate new and potential candidates for the Omid team in Iran’s first and second division leagues for a long time so that new faces can be added to the Omid national team in the upcoming camp. Over the next five months, Mahdavikia seeks to identify new members and bolster his team’s strengths and ensure the weaknesses are mitigated in order to participate in the AFC Under-23 Championship, which will be held in Uzbekistan in mid-June.

Omid team defeats Lebanon in AFC U23 qualifiers.

Dushanbe: Iran and group host Tajikistan set up a winner-takes-all Group B finale in AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 qualifying after both sides secured wins on Thursday.
the-afc.com
Iran earned a 2-0 win over Lebanon in the early match at Dushanbe’s Central Republican Stadium, before Tajikistan piled on the goals to beat Nepal 6-0 in the later game.
Lebanon 0-2 IR Iran

Keen to build on their strong finish In Monday’s 4-0 win over Nepal. Iran took just five minutes to go ahead through Mehdi Lamouchi, who latched onto skipper Yasin Salmani’s pass before beating Lebanese goalkeeper Antoine Al Douaihy from close range.

Iran suffered a blow when Mohammad Khodabandehlo was sent off after being shown a second yellow card in the 36th minute, but Lebanon failed to capitalize on their numerical advantage.

Mahdavikia’s side missed the chance to extend their lead when Saman Fallahvarnami’s Panenka-style penalty kick was kept out by the woodwork in the 90th minute, but the second goal did arrive in the fourth minute of injury time, with Milad Kor rising high to head home the sealer.

Team Melli Omid now faces what looms as a crucial clash with Tajikistan, while Lebanon will be playing for pride in their final outing against Nepal.

MahdaviKia invites 29 players for Omid Team Camp.

Mehdi MahdaviKia has sent an Invitation to 29 players for participation in the Omid team training camp.

The training camp of the Omid national football team (under 23 years old) will be held at the National Football Center from October 6 to 10, while Mehdi MahdaviKia, the head coach of the team, and his coaching staff will monitor and prepare the performance appraisal of each player in a series of camps. A final list of 23 players will be picked for future participation in the international and regional competitions.

The names of the players invited to the camp are as follows:

Tabriz Tractor :Mohammad Ghaderi and Behzad Salemi

Zob Ahan: Mohammad KhodabandehLo, Mohammad SoltaniMehr and Milad

Sepahan: Yasin Salmani (will join the 23 team immediately after the end of the senior national team camp)

Esteghlal: Alireza Rezaei, Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh

Peykan: Saman Fallah, Mohammad Mehdi Mohebbi and Alireza Koushki

Saipa: Amir Ali Sadeghi

Padideh Mashhad: Mohammad JavadKia

Naft Masjed Soleiman: Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi

Sanat Naft Abadan: Mohammad Hossein Zavari, Omid Hamedifar

Foolad Khuzestan: Mohammad Amin Hezbavi, Alireza Bavieh from

Fajrspasi Shiraz: Mehdi Lemouchi Ghasghaei, Arya Barzegar, Farzan Dana

Gol Gohar Sirjan: Sasan Hosseini, Hossein Nokhodkar from

Mes Rafsanjan : Younes Akbarpour

Mes Shahr Babak Kerman: Reza Kakhsaz

Malavan Bandar Anzali: Mehdi Hashemnejad

Nassaji Mazandaran : Hossein Khatir

Khyber Khoram Abad: Hossein Shavardi

Aluminum Arak: Amir Mohammad Hooshmand

Mehdi Mahdavikia appointed as Head Coach of Omid team

Mehdi Mahdavikia was officially appointed as the head coach of Iran U23 (Omid team) and received his ordination from Shahabuddin Azizi Khazem, President of the Football Federation.

Mehdi Mahdavikia, who is working in Germany where he is based, arrived in Iran to complete the formalities of his appointment.

Meanwhile,  in addition to the coaching appointment, the former Team Melli player will also work as the technical advisor of the Football Federation. He will advise the federation president and various committees on technical issues for the improvement of the national teams and football league.


Mehdi Mahdavikia was working with Hamburger SV as a youth coach, and also manages his own youth academy, FC KIA.

Mahdavikia currently represents Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in the Football Advisory Panel of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), joining the body in 2019. On 15 May 2013, Mahdavikia was appointed as AFC Grassroots Ambassador.

Apart from being an icon of Iranian football, Mahdavikia is the first recognized Iranian coach wh is actually qualified by attending FIFA and German FA recognized courses.

His appointment as Head Coach of Omid Team is remarkable progress by FFIRI after a series of disastrous haphazard appointments of coaches, the result of which was total humiliation of Iran’s Omid Team and failure to qualify for the Olympics once again.

Mahdavikia main candidate to coach Omid Team (Iran U23)

The Iranian football legend confirmed that he has been approached by the football federation FFIRI to take over the leadership of the U23 team national team, but there are still some negotiations pending with Hamburg, the current employer of Mahdavikia.

Yesterday the Football Federation announced the selection of Mehdi Mahdavikia as the head coach of Omid team pending his acceptance of the post. Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem stated that the final agreement with MahdaviKia depends on the consent of the Hamburg club and the agreement of the two parties on the details of the contract. Today, Mehdi Mahdavikia, who has not responded to this issue since yesterday, referring to the calls and messages received from the media to comment on the subject of his pending appointment, issued a message on his Instagram page:

“Greetings to all friends and followers, especially esteemed friends of the media. There have been positive negotiations with the Football Federation, and if Hamburg Club agrees and agreements and details of cooperation with the Football Federation are finalized in the coming days, I will answer your questions, dear ones. Thanks to the patience and interest.”

 

Mehdi Mahdavikia is currently in discussion with Hamburg regarding this offer by FFIRI. It is not yet clear how and under what circumstances he will accept to take over the post of Head Coach of the Omid national team. Azizi Khadem has also announced that he will use Mahdavikia as his technical advisor for Team Melli, especially in the upcoming series of matches of the World Cup qualifiers’ third round.