Tag: Persepolis

Isa Al Kasir suspended for six months!

Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary and Ethics Committee has banned Isa Alkasir, of Persepolis FC, from taking part in any kind of football-related activity for six months for violating Article 58.1 of the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Code (2019 Edition). The ban will take effect immediately.

The player, who was also fined USD10,000, was found to have used a discriminatory gesture during the AFC Champions League (West) game against Pakhtakor on September 30, 2020, in Doha, Qatar.

Article 58.1 states that anyone who offends the dignity of a person or group of persons through contemptuous, discriminatory, or denigratory words or actions concerning race, skin color, gender, disability, language, age, physical appearance, religion, political opinion, wealth, birth or any other status, sexual orientation, or ethnic, national, or social origin has committed an offense.

Al Kasir’s goal celebration is normally quite eccentric and has led to several awards of yellow cards, the last one was in the AFC Champions League matches when he took off his jersey after scoring, a punishable offense. In the offense that led to his ban, Al Kasir seemed to stretch both his eyes with his hands. Not clear what kind of a weird celebration was that or what or who Al Kasir was mocking. However, a Bahraini National Team player had a similar ban by FIFA after making a similar gesture to Al Kasir. Bahrain was playing Hong Kong away and the Bahrain player seemed to be mocking the Chinese race which is certainly a violation and a racist gesture. In Al Kasir’s case, there was no Chinese involved unless there is a hidden motive that only the AFC and Al Kasir understand.

Al Kasir not only misses the crucial semi-final of the AFC Champions League but also is deprived of a chance to play for Team Melli for the next six months. He was a strong candidate for selection in the Dragan Skocic list before his stupidity and petulant act.  Al Kasir ( his proper name is Isa Al Katheer, rather than the Iranian pronunciation) is a player from Khuzestan of Arab origin.

Dragan Skočić, to announce the new Team Melli squad.

Team Melli’s Croatian Head coach will announce the players’ list for the upcoming international friendlies against Uzbekistan and Mali after months of inaction. It will be the first time that the team will meet with its new coaching team due to the suspension of football activities as the result;t of the Covid19 pandemic.

he wants to play in the national team after months, and he will end the wait for the football fans to unveil his team. According to ISNA,

Team Melli training which was supposed to start on October 3 in Tehran, will probably start with a day delay. Iranian League Champions, Persepolis is still involved in the AFC Champions League and will play the final match in Doha against Al-Nasr of Sadu Arabi on Saturday afternoon in Doha.  from tomorrow. Instead, the list of players invited to the national team will be published tonight by Dragan Skocic. After about 11 months break Team Melli will gather together to play two friendly matches against Uzbekistan and Mali on 17 and 22 October. However, the most important issue is the unveiling of Skocic team, which has been delayed for more than 8 months due to the corona outbreak.

* Skocic’s -style team

The Croatian coach does not consider himself a follower of Carlos Queiroz’s defensive style, nor is he going to follow the style of Belgian Marc Wilmots. That’s why watching Skocic’s team is so important in a situation where official World Cup qualifiers have been postponed. In the current situation, the presence of some players in this camp is in a state of ambiguity, and it is not yet clear whether Skocic will invite them to the national team or not.

On the other hand, due to the limitations caused by the prevalence of corona, some players in European countries will be facing problems and this issue may make it difficult for them to travel to Uzbekistan and Turkey. But with all these considerations, the most important issue is Skocic’s style and mentality. It remains to be seen what players he will invite to the national team and how he would employ certain players in his line-up.

* What is going on in the Croatian coach’s head?

The list of players invited to the national team always leads to critics; In this bi-polar football nation, not inviting a player from either Persepolis or Esteghlal or inviting a particular player to the team, as well as not inviting some players due to traffic on some lines, are among the things that face criticism from experts and, of course, fans.

The increase in the number of Iranian legionnaires and the shining of several players in one position, as well as the increase in the age of some experienced players, have raised speculation about the new national team roster. In fact, no one is yet familiar with Skocic’s tactical ideas in the national team, and on the other hand, due to the presence of many in-form players in several positions, few can read the mind of the Croatian national team coach before the list is published. For example, there were various ambiguities about the goalkeepers; Especially since Alireza Beiranvand is absent due to injury and several well-known defenders can be seen in this post who has put legitimate claims to wear the national team jersey.

The team’s defense is in the same situation. In fact, with the departure of Queiroz and the retirement of a few players, the defensive line that was desired by the former Portuguese coach will also change. To these must be added the absence of the team’s most consistent defender, Morteza Pouraliganji. The most complicated situation in the midfield and attack is that there is a traffic of in-form players inside and outside Iran waiting to join the team, and they still do not know whether they should pack their bags to attend Tehran and join the national team on Saturday night or stay put.

 

TEAM MELLI CANDIDATES LIST

 

  1. AMIRI, Vahid     
  2. ANSARIFARD, Karim
  3. AZMOUN, Sardar
  4. CHESHMI, Rouzbeh
  5. DEJAGAH, Ashkan
  6. EBRAHIMI, Omid
  7. GHODDOS, Saman
  8. HAJSAFY, Ehsan
  9. HOSSEINI, Majid
  10. JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza 
  11. KANANI-ZADEGAN, Hossein
  12. MOHAMMADI, Milad
  13. MOHEBI, Mohammad
  14. NOUROLLAHI, Ahmad
  15. REZAEI, Kaveh
  16. REZAEIAN, Ramin
  17. TAREMI, Mehdi 
  18. TORABI, Mehdi
  19. GHOLIZADEH, Ali
  20. NEMATI, Siamak
  21. AL KASIR, Isa
  22. LAK, Hamed
  23. GHAYEDI, Mehdi
  24. KARIMI, Ali
  25. HOSSEINI, Hosseini
  26. KHALILZADEH, Shojaa
  27. KAMYABINIA, Kamal
  28. NIAZMAND, Payam
  29. NOORAFKAN, Omid
  30. KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza
  31. SHIKARI, Reza

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.”

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.

Alireza Beiranvand to Antwerp

In the winter transfer window this season, Alireza Beiranvand signed a three-year contract with the Belgian side Antwerp, The Team Melli and Persepolis club goalkeeper was supposed to start his term in Belgium by today 1st July 2022, however, the COVID19 endemic and travel restrictions have postponed Beiranvands joining the team.

Beiranvand face difficulties attending Antwerp’s medical tests earlier due to the restrictions imposed.

The Team Melli goalkeeper, who had twice booked a ticket to travel to Belgium, stayed in Tehran due to flight restrictions. Persepolis Club also wanted to continue negotiations with their Belgian counterpart to keep Beiranvand until the end of the current season of the Persian Gulf league, but Antwerp in an official response to Persepolis Club’s letter called for Beiranvand’s presence in Belgium and did not allow him to continue his activities with Persepolis. Therefore, Beiranvand will not be able to participate in Persepolis training from today to wait for the flight to Belgium.

The latest announcement by the EU countries included a list of countries that are allowed to travel. Iran is not on the list hence Beiranvand needs to wait that much longer.

Benfica is after Taremi.

Benfica FC, Portugal’s most celebrated and greatest club is on the lookout for Team Melli and Rio Aves striker, Mehdi Taremi. The news has been reported by Record.pt website.

According to the popular site, the Iranian striker appeals to the Benfica officials who see Taremi as an advantageous solution who can bring glories to the club.

Taremi has done exceptionally well for Rio Ave before the endemic outbreak and suspension of the league. Rio Ave has been approached by several Portugues clubs including Sporting regarding the possible transfer of Taremi, but the reluctance of the club to release the player short of their expected valuation and also their aspiration to make the Europa League has put a stop to these negotiations. However, post COVID19 the situation might be different, and Rio might concede to a club such as Benfica which is has been rumored to offer 10 million Euros for Taremi.

Mehdi Taremi has scored 8 goals in the league for Rio Ave. He was transferred from Qatar Star League club Al Gharaffa to Rio for an undisclosed sum. Taremi was Persepolis’ top scorer in 2017/18.

 

FFIRI files a countersuit against Marc Wilmots.

Mehr news agency reports that the Iranian Football Federation FFIRI, has filed a countersuit against the lawsuit by Marc Wilmots claiming over a million dollars.  The lawyer assigned by the FFIRI is the same Swiss lawyer who failed in his most recent case while representing the TractorSazi Tabriz football club.

In that case, an infamous Irish player by the name of Anthony Stokes has won a libel case worth US$ 400,000 that Tractorsazi has to pay the Irishman plus 5% interest.

The Former Republic of Ireland international Anthony Stokes has reportedly been arrested by armed police at London’s Gatwick Airport due to an outstanding warrant for his arrest last week.

Stokes arrived at the airport on a plane from Dubai, where he had been on a short break, after refusing to return back to his current employer Persepolis!

In Wilmots vs FFIRI, the Belgian coach is claiming several million euros in back payment plus interest. It is quite likely that Wilmots will win the case and Iranian football will have to pay yet another hefty sum to outsiders due to their own utter incompetence and mismanagement of the federation.

The next in line to pay similar fines are Persepolis and Esteghlal who have several open cases against them in Zurich all for breach of contract and non-payment of dues.

The irony is that all such funds have to come from the public coffers as these clubs are practically bankrupt and wholly dependent on the ministry of Sports budget.

 

 

Bad news all over for Iran’s football.

If you are a die-hard fan of Iranian football, the bad news coming out of Iran is enough to send one into depression.

It seems that since Carlos Queiroz left the country to seek his fortunes in Latin America with the Colombian National team, hardly anything has gone right for Team Melli and Iran’s football in general. It all started with the recruitment of Marc Wilmots, a coach who has been sacked in his last two jobs with the latest appointment lasting only six months with the Ivory Coast. For the first time in decades, Team Melli suffered two consecutive defeats and that was in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

There have been a lot of secret talks and behind the scene negotiation to find a competent and true replacement for the legendary Queiroz. The odds on that were quite low for a lot of reasons. Not only the leading and the renowned coaches were already active coaching teams and thus not available, the second tiers looking for a job, did not put Iran’s Team Melli coaching on the top of their priority. Any potential foreign coach fancied the job but examined Queiroz’s experience in Iran or heard about the pandemonium in the football federation management with several layers of governance making decisions, would have thought twice before indulging in such an adventure.

Not surprisingly there were no quality takers for the job. Is this a Queiroz curse ?!

 Then came the real shock. While the masses were waiting for an Amir Ghalenoei or an Ali Daei to take over the helm, there comes an outsider and takes over the chair. To the utter shock of many, Dragan Skocic, a Croat who was coaching Sanat Naft was announced as Head Coach of Team Melli and assumed responsibility without much fanfare.

While the Croat enthusiastically started his mission by building rapport in preparing for the two upcoming matches, the coronavirus struck and chances of the fans seeing Skocic in action is delayed for at least 3 or 4 months.

Team Melli at least has a leader in Skocis, the football federations do not. The leadership struggles, political interference, influences, and the circus, continues in the head-less FFIRI. Mehdi Taj was forced to resign citing ill-health while the government is looking for an obedient regime stooge to install him as President of the Federation in the upcoming election!

FIFA got hold of these games and finally put its foot down hard on the authorities and the FFIRI itself declaring any elections under the current conditions and rules will not be recognized by FIFA unless the FFIRI amends its statute and rules in compliance with the international football law governance.

Away from Team Melli, Iranian clubs in the AFC Champions league displayed their worst performances and results ever with one solitary win in 8 matches. It was not only the results that were disappointing but the manner of defeats and the amateurish attitudes of the Iranian players with a lack of character and professionalism that hurt the most.

The so-called professional football league devoid of proper competition is full of drama, however, yet nothing like what Sepahan club did when they refused to turn up for the match against Persepolis in their home ground Naghsh Jehan stadium in Esfahan for. These things belong to the fifties and in Europe, such acts may result in relegation to lower divisions, but the FFIRI disciplinary committee like the rest of the federation is as incompetent as the rest of the federation. When it comes to applying strict discipline and punitive measures.

And then there are players who receive a cheque from one club to turn up playing for another club in a league match!

The initial enthusiasm of Iranian legionnaires in Europe all but evaporated with one player after another struggling to make the starting line-up. Even Sardar Azmoun was benched in Zenit last match with Jahanbakhsh remaining a solid benchwarmer in Brighton, Ezattolahi making a rare cameo appearance in a lowly Belgian league club and Taremi losing that initial goalscoring brilliant run of his in the Portuguese league.

Very little good news to report from Iran’s football. Perhaps it needs a real shake-up and severe jolt for it to recover again.

Coronavirus threatens all Asian football activities!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Asian soccer leaders on Wednesday postponed two key meetings because of the spread of the Coronavirus.

The Asian Football Confederation was due to hold an executive committee meeting in Bahrain on March 14 ahead of a congress of member nations on April 16 in Kuala Lumpur. The AFC told The Associated Press that both gatherings had been postponed, with no new dates for the meetings given.

Governments have announced more than 20 cases of the virus in both Malaysia and Bahrain.

The virus has already impacted soccer matches on the continent with Asian Champions League games involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG postponed to April-May.

All group and playoff matches in the east zone of the AFC Cup have been delayed until April 7.

Iran is one of the worst-hit countries in West Asia with many countries suspending flight to and from Iran while most have closed the borders. Several league matches were held with spectators while many clubs advocate the postponement of the league until the situation stabilizes and the threat of the virus is minimized.

Sepahan Esfahan, Esteghlal, Persepolis and Shar Khodro are representing Iran in this season’s AFC Champions League.

Team Melli is scheduled to meet Hong Kong in Azadi Stadium on 26th March in the FIFA World Cup 2022 Asian Zone qualifiers.