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The football league committee of FFIRI has agreed to the request by Channel 3 (Sports Program) to change the kick-off time of two matches involving Iran’s two most popular clubs Esteghlal and Persepolis, as IRIB did not want the matches played in the Persian Gulf league to clash with the Euro 2020 live broadcast.

In most countries, such requests are normal and mostly accommodated, because the chunk of football revenue that ends up in the clubs’ coffers are due to the TV broadcast rights. IN Iran, it is unique. IRIB is known to be the biggest debtor of football and does not pay a single Rial for broadcasting football matches on its channels.

Television broadcast rights all over the world are the biggest source of income for professional clubs and can be more than 50% of their total income. This explains how freely the English clubs spend money to buy players or how the 24 Championship clubs participate in the heaviest league in the world to advance to the English Premier League with its riches due to the Broadcast rights. With the large amount of money awarded to the clubs, not only the English Premier League can afford to buy the most expensive players, but a significant portion of their revenue is invested in the development of the young players, training facilities, and stadia. This automatically helps in raising the standards and making English football one of the most competitive. Switch to any TV Sports pay channel, and there is a good chance that it carries the English Premier League, where the TV station has to spend around 350 million pounds for a season for such rights.

The same applies to the Splansh La Liga, The German Bundesliga and the Italin Serie A.

What is happening in Iran regarding football matches broadcasting?

In Iran, the situation is quite different, and not only does the official and the sole broadcaster IRIB has a monopoly on radio and television broadcasts but also does not pay anything to the football federation and the league organization to broadcast domestic football competitions.

It has also been known that IRIB even demands payment from clubs to broadcast their games. These are games other than Persepolis or Esteghlal which IRIB does not think it is viable commercially.  The broadcast organization IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting), is directly under the control of Ayatollah Khamenei. Not only it does not pay the domestic football matches broadcasting, but it also refuses to pay for broadcasting international competitions and illegally broadcasts many games on its channels. This practice has been going on for many decades.

Now, however, IRIB, with complete impunity and arrogance, has the audacity to demand changes in the league program to suit itself rather than the Premier League competitions and the FFIRI obliged. The issue begins when the federation announced on Monday in a news item that because of the Channel 3 network requirement to broadcast the Euro 2020 semi-final games, it asked the league organization to change the kick-off time of Esteghlal-Trakctor and Foolad-Persepolis games, which was immediately approved by the league organization.

It was incredible that the Football Federation and the League organization agreed to the demands of IRIB, while IRIB  has not bought the broadcast rights for Euro 2020!!

The audacity of IRIB is beyond belief. Because it does not report to the government and is under the control of Ayatollah Khamenae it makes its own rules, publishes inaccurate and misleading information, while always seemed immune from prosecution under the country’s laws unlike any other media outlet in Iran. Of course, there is no expectation from a broadcaster that does not apologize for any of its big and small mistakes.

While common sense says that the FFIRI should object and turn down these demands because of the refusal of the official broadcaster to pay broadcasting rights, the opposite has happened!!

Azizi Khadem regularly mentions IRIB in good terms and goes as far as thanking the head of the Radio and Television Organization at every opportunity he gets! We still remember how Azizi Khadem, board members of FFIRI, and management of Team Melli paid a courtesy visit to Ali Asgari the President of IRIB four days before the trip to Bahrain to award IRIB the title of the “twelfth man of Team Melli” and gifting him a Team Melli Jersey with No. 12 printed on it!

Amazing how things work in Iran. While IRIB persistently refuses to pay for broadcasting matches of Team Melli and the league, while the same organization makes millions in advertising revenue during the televising of these matches, while for decades the FFIRI management demanded its rights from IRIB and was turned down and even threatened, this Management or Azizi Khadem in particular, is giving IRIB a seal of approval for violating international norms and laws and recognizing Iran’s football biggest debtor as the “twelfth friend”! This indicates how rotten is the system of governance in FFIRI as Az=izi Khadem is looking beyond Presidency of a football federation at the time when he will be kicked out of his office and will be looking for a new job.

Mohajerani “Decision to keep Skocic was logical and rational”

The Iranian football coaching legend and former coach of Team Melli said that the Football Federation has delivered the best decision by keeping Dragan Skocic in his post. “The federation’s decision to keep Skocic was logical and rational”

Heshmat Mohajerani, who is the first coach ever to succeed in qualifying Iran to the World Cup back in 1978 commented on the draw for the third round by saying “If the Asian Confederation had given us the power to draw lots, we could not have done a better job in our own favor.”

He jokingly added, “All we could have done was to say, if you like, take Korea Rep out of the group and replace it with India or Pakistan.”

He continued: “There will be not much to discuss regarding our group rivals because except for Korea, all our opponents are in West Asia and these teams have played with us many times in the last few years and have lost to us mentally before the game. Our football history has shown that we are superior to these teams. In the other group, only Saudi Arabia and Oman are from West Asia, and that group is much more difficult than this Iran group.”

Mohajerani, the head coach of Team Melli when Iran lifted the Asian Cup for the third time in 1976 was asked about the FFIRI decision on continuing with the current coach Skocic: “The federation’s decision to keep Skocic was logical and rational because we could not make a change in such a short time. In the previous games of the national team, we saw that the coaches noticed Iran’s weakness in the defensive line. All we need is calm, and we have to play one or two preparation matches with a strong team and an average team, and examine our strengths and weaknesses.”

He added: “We touched on our problems in the Manama Games and we know the situation of the national team. To solve those problems, we have to hold preparatory games and short-term camps. The third qualifying round of the World Cup is easier than the second round, and God willing, we can qualify for the World Cup.

Mohajerani and Team Melli Captain Ali Parvin

Azizi Khadem now says Skocic is contracted intil the end of the qualifying rounds.

According to the Mehr reporter, Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, the president of the Football Federation, commenting on Dragan Skocic, Team Melli Head Coach’s contract ” Skocic will remain in charge for the 10 matches of the third round FIFA World Cup qualifiers. This might include Fifa day friendly matches.”

Regarding Skocic’s assistants, the president of the Football Federation emphasized: “Both Vahid Hashemian and Karim Bagheri will continue their work in the national team.”

On the other hand, Mansour Ghanbarzadeh, Secretary-General of FFIRI said that the figure of Skocic’s contract is not that significant to mention (…) Skocic’s contract figure is reasonable.” Ghanbarzadeh added that ” Skocic’s plans for the national team: Skocic will present his plans to the presidency of the federation as in the previous round.”

 

SURPRISE…Dragan Skocic contract expires in 2023!

After achieving qualification to the third round of FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers, the head of FFIRI announced on his return from Bahrain that the contract of Team Melli coach has expired and after consultation with board directors of the FFIRI, a decision will be forthcoming.

In an interview with a sports TV show last night in Iran, Dragan Skočić has said that his contract is valid up to 2023 and there is no requirement for any action unless the federation wants him out!

Despite the difficult job of achieving qualification after a disastrous run under the Belgian Wilmots, Dragan Skocic’s fate as Head Coach was put under question by the leader of Iran’s football federation.

While the Football Federation is said to be reluctant to continue working with Skocic, the Croatian coach insists he has a legally binding contract until 2023 and that the federation can only terminate his contract if Iran fails to qualify for the World Cup. In his interview, the Croat coach stated that his contract is simple and concise, he also mocked the contract of his predecessor Marc Wilmots, while saying that his contract figure is not as high as Wilmots.

“I am still the head coach of the Iranian national team and I have a contract,” said Skocic, who appeared on Channel 3 last night. “The fact that I am here and I talk to you in person means that I have not gone away and I have a contract. Of course, my contract is not as expensive as Wilmots’. The problem of deciding on my contract is not a big problem either.”

In response to the question of whether the contract was not until the end of the second qualifying round of the World Cup as claimed by Shahab Azizi Khadem, the head of FFIRI, Skocic emphatically said “NO”. He elaborated further ” My contract is valid until 2023, but the contract stipulates that if we do not advance to the next round or fail to qualify for the World Cup, the contract will be terminated. My contract is until 2023, but it is performance-based. My contract is available. I am telling you the facts.”

“My contract does not contain too many clauses and it is compact. The Wilmots contract, on the other hand, needs to be reviewed several times by experts to understand, if that, but my contract is concise. They can replace me whenever the federation thinks I’m not good enough.”

Asked if he has talked to the president of the FFIRI?”  Skocic said” I did not talk to the president of the football federation regarding the contract. There was no need to negotiate. “

 

“How is your relationship with the president FFIRI?” In response, Skočić replied “I have a normal and professional working relationship with the president of the federation. I do not expect a very warm relationship, but we do our job professionally.”

“You are right, but it is not a matter for me to decide,” Skočić said, referring to the fact that he had been speaking the FFIRI president for a long time after Team Melli achieved qualification to the next round but had not negotiated any term of the contract. “I am not the addressee of this question. I have a contract and other issues do not concern me. I am not here to see what the signs and symptoms are,” he said in response to the fact that all of this could be a sign that the federation is unwilling to continue working with him.”

“I did my job well. I have a contract and the management of the federation will decide. They have a responsibility. That’s the whole story. It’s a simple story. I know you want my answer to be more, but that’s all there is to it. “

Skocic on whether this is a normal situation that has not been negotiated with so far and they have not asked him for a plan for the next camp? He said “I had a lot of hard work done. I am proud to be the coach of a national team. My goal is to reach the World Cup. I had a considerable share in this success, but this is no longer my decision.”

Regarding his feelings about these rumors surrounding his future with Team Melli, he clarified ” I am a professional. I want to say from the bottom of my heart that I did not get involved in these matters. After this tournament, I was so tired that I could not even watch the Euro games anymore. I only watched the games of the Croatian national team and I could not think of anything more.”

Skočić, stating that we should look at Iran as one of the strongest teams in Asia, said about Iran’s possible opponents in the next stage: “We are seeded as the leader of our group, Japan being the other. We have to prepare ourselves for every match. It does not matter which team is grouped with us. Our quality is good enough to succeed in the next stage. I did my best and gave it everything I had. I was trusted to deliver and I did I do not worry about what decision is going to be made regarding my future” Skočić said.

“This is not my responsibility. I do not occupy my mind with things over which I have no control upon. My contribution to this success was considerable. I do not like to be pitiful or talk politically. I am ready to continue with the national team because I worked hard for 15 months. If the federation decides otherwise, we should know that I am an ordinary person.”

Besides the persistent stupid questions by the TV anchor, the fact that Shahab Aziz Khadem has clearly lied is quite an embarrassment. He is not the first head of FFIRI that has blatantly falsified the facts and mislead the public as all his predecessors have done so with impunity.  It is a pathetic but accepted fact that leaders and administrators of football federation lie quite often in Iran all in the name of the people of the country!!

No support for Skocic and dead silence in crucial days for Team Melli.

After the successful return of the squad from Bahrain, Azizi-Khadem, the president of the Football Federation commented on Skocic’s contract situation by saying that he should consult with the members of the board of directors of the Federation to come up with a decision!

After these incomprehensible and dumb words of the president, we no longer saw any official reaction;  except for the comments of the national team media director in an interview, in which he did not offer any sign of support to Skocic not even applauding his achievement!!

It seems like FFIRI either wants to force Skocic to withdraw from the contract negotiation or wait for the draw for the next qualifying round of the World Cup when Iran’s opponents will be known and thereafter evaluate if an extension of the contract with Skocic is worthwhile. That is precisely the reason why Carlos Queiroz’s rumors of a return to his old job are not explicitly denied by the Football Federation, according to some informed sources.

 In terms of domestic options, it does not seem that Yahya Golmohammadi or Amir Ghalehnoei, who have a multitude of problems in their own teams these days, will be candidates for the Team Melli bench. The only domestic option that remains in contention is that of Ali Daei, but it is not possible to determine his willingness to take the job with certainty. Common sense, however, dictates that the first choice of the FFIRI for Team Melli is Mr. Skocic.

These days, most of the fans and experts expect the Football Federation to renew Skocic’s contract, but on the other hand, no one knows what Dragan’s offers to extend the contract to the federation are. No one knows the amount he demanded from Azizi Khadem, no one knows how long he has planned for his contract.

It is only immense wishful thinking to expect proper organization and advanced planning of such an important appointment as Head Coach of Team Melli.  In Germany, the successor of Lowe in the national team (Mannschaft) is already known months ahead. No suspense, no drama, no under-the-table payment, no agent fees, and nothing but the interest of the National Team and the country. In Iran, that will be a miracle if such things occur. American Sanctions is such a good excuse for their incompetence, inadequacy, and lack of proffecency, they will revert to it if things fall apart.

CAS acknowledges FFIRI petition.

The Iranian Football Federation FFIRI has issued a statement published on its website regarding the progress of its complaints against AFC in the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS. The text of the statement is hereunder:

1- The judges of CAS acknowledge the receipt of an Official letter from FFIRI on Tuesday 13th April 2021, in form of a petition against AFC and request for reversal of its decision to award the hosting of World Cup Qualifier matches to a competitor (Bahrain). The issue has been assigned to a panel of experts.

2- About the letter received from the plaintiff (FFIRI) the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has accepted the complaint and its contents and consequently allowed the Asian Football Confederation 10 days to respond to the complaint.

3- CAS, recognizing the importance and the urgency of the matter has assigned 3-judge panel to pursue the complaint and review the situations and conditions for a final ruling.

The FFIRI has reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS to file a case against the Asian football ruling body in protest to the award hosting rights for the centralized preliminary rounds of World Cup qualifiers to Bahrain. AFC has claimed that the selection was done fairly based on several factors that the AFC has refused to disclose to the media!

AFC has refused to answer queries by World Media and has not been transparent on this selection mechanism.

Iran has already lost away games to Iraq and Bahrain, so centralizing in Bahrain gives the Bahrainis an unfair advantage while FIFA and AFC spread the sermon of “Fair Play” worldwide. At this stage of World Cup 2022 qualifying, only group winners are guaranteed to go through to the final group qualifying, with the other five slots going to the best-placed group runners-up.

The Iranians claim that they should be hosting the group and that the AFC made the decision to go to Bahrain under pressure from AFC president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, who is from Bahrain. AFC claims that the decision to go to Bahrain was made on the hosting criteria the AFC has had for competitions during the pandemic. At the top of that list is whether the traveling players and staff will be safe.  Facts say otherwise, See the table below

Insiders claim that Dato’ Windsor John, Secretary-General was the force behind this controversial award to satisfy his boss, Shaikh Salman. The Bahraini AFC President has cleverly stayed away from the issue, but ultimately, he is accountable and culpable.

This is the first time in the history of the World Cup since 1930, that a team plays both it is away and home matches at the opponent’s country.

COVID19 Worldwide statistics.

If the AFC decision claims that Bahrain is safer (…) in terms of COVOD19, then this table refutes that claim. Bahrain is a small island with the sixth highest population density in the world (2159 per sq/km compared to 59 per sq/km for Iran). It has a ratio of 90,877 COVID19 cases per 1 million population. Iran on the other hand has less than half of that figure, nearly a third with 25,271. There are other statistical and legal arguments that do not put Bahrain ahead of Iran in terms of health hazards and safety in the pandemic.

# Country, Total Cases Total Deaths Total Recovered Tot Cases per 1M pop Deaths/ 1M pop Total Tests Tests/
1M pop		 Population
1 USA 32,096,070 577,399 24,640,110 96,523 1,736 422,359,302 1,270,172 332,521,463
2 India 14,065,622 173,087 12,423,992 10,115 124 260,618,866 187,414 1,390,605,073
3 Brazil 13,601,566 358,718 12,074,798 63,636 1,678 28,600,000 133,807 213,741,192
4 France 5,149,834 99,777 315,152 78,760 1,526 70,521,002 1,078,522 65,386,679
5 Russia 4,666,209 104,000 4,291,223 31,964 712 124,400,000 852,151 145,983,521
6 UK 4,378,305 127,161 4,000,777 64,231 1,865 138,606,631 2,033,395 68,165,116
7 Turkey 4,025,557 34,734 3,480,146 47,333 408 42,509,905 499,835 85,047,882
15 Iran 2,143,794 65,359 1,739,002 25,271 770 13,964,570 164,615 84,831,939
78 Bahrain 158,789 566 147,162 90,877 324 3,815,826 2,183,841 1,747,300

“Fair Play” that has gone with the wind.

 

Team Melli head coach Dragan Skocic and Mehdi Taremi questioned AFC’s decision to hold World Cup qualifiers in Bahrain saying the decision was not made in the best interests of the participants.

They were not alone by any means as this great disappointment his all level of football in Iran which was counting of hosting 3 home matches against Hong Kong. Bahrain and Iraq.

 

Nothing is furthest away from “Fair Play” than the decision by AFC to award the hosting of group C remaining matches of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers to Bahrain.

Iran has already played in Bahrain and lost. Iran is within its full right to avenge that defeat and become a contender by given its legitimate right to play Bahrain in Iran (be it Tehran, Tabriz, or Esfahan).  But to the shock of many, Bahrain was awarded the hosting!

There has to be some process matrix in taking such a decision, at least that is what many think. It should not be arbitrarily, politically motivated, based on favoritism, or based on factors beyond sport.

It is worth looking at a simple comparison. Surely it is not rocket science to figure. When it comes to accommodation and logistics, perhaps Bahrain beats Iraq and Cambodia, but it is way behind Hong Kong and at in a best-case scenario on par with Iran.

If we take the weather factor, then Bahrain is right at the bottom of the table. P{laying football in the heat and high humidity of June in the Persian Gulf countries, is not for the faint-hearted and is a hazard to the players, especially those who are not accustomed to such weather.

That is why FIFA moved the World Cup 2022 dates to November/December where the climate is much milder and pleasant. It was a major historical decision but in the end, it was the right one for all involved. The question now is, how come these weather considerations have not been applied in the case of awarding the hosting to Bahrain?

Iran is a big country, and it could host matches in cities ideal weather. The average temperature of Tabriz in June is 14.8 °C  to 26.6°C. It has the second biggest stadium which was recently renovated too.

If we are talking about Venues, Iran leads all of the group teams in a number of Stadia and facilities.

Apparently, AFC’s decision process is nothing like that.

The Iranians are furious at the AFC decision and have demanded an explanation, but seriously, no one expects AFC to provide any logical reasoning beyond its own. The world witnessed how football is administered by the ruling bodies. It is an autocratic system and one-sided which means the right to appeal and grievances are nothing but ceremonial especially if it involves commercial rights and financial interests.

In the corridors of Arab-dominated AFC, Iran has been deprived of many of its rights and the biased decisions against it are aplenty. The Iranian federation’s managers have played a major role in Iran losing so many cases, or at least not being given any favors. In general, these rulings are controlled by minnows albeit with quite a few accumulated votes. The Iranian representations in the AFC have been weak. The ineffectiveness of FFIRI management is institutional as a consequence of a system of appointment in the shape of a so-called election of the federation. Incompetent personnel reaches leadership posts due to their political influence more than their administrational skills and abilities.

Politics is quite rife in Iran’s federation, blame culture is a standard mode of operation, the current one accuses his predecessors, and the cycle repeats itself. The recently appointed President of the Football Federation (FFIRI) Shahab Azizi-Khadem was very quick to issue a long emotional communique accusing the previous administration of incompetency and lack of effort that resulted in the loss of the hosting rights. No one is in any illusion that this Azizi-Khdem will do any better than the rest of them, however.

 

Iranian fans are the eventual losers in all cases. When a small country like Bahrain has one of its subjects heading the Asian football ruling body, and good luck to them, it is no wonder that the decision of hosting the World Cup 2022 qualifiers tilted towards Bahrain. One needs to ask, why Iran a country with thousands of years of civilization is unable to produce competent representatives and candidates for the presidency of the AFC , or at least someone who can protect its interest in Kula Lumpur.

The decision for Bahrain hosting was taken way back before the announcement two days ago. AFC was just trying to create justifications, which until the writing of this article was not publicized.

Let’s end this with a quick quiz.

When is “Fair Play” the slogan that has been promoted by FIFA in football for many years, not a “Fair Play”?

If you guessed any of the answers below, then it is not too far from the truth:

  • When fair play is applied by AFC.
  • When your opponent in the World Cup qualifiers whom you have already played away and lost, has a man in the top of the AFC Pyramid.
  • When you play the same opponent in home and away format, at the opponent’s venue twice.
  • When playing in 29°C to 38°C degrees temperature and humidity that can be up to 90% (59% average) is much healthier and cooler for the players than high altitude mild weather of Tehran (average of 20.1°C to 34.5°C) with Maximum Humidity of 10%
  • When Covid19 is used as the ultimate excuse for bending the rules and breaking it.

Of course, we can go on and provide you a full sheet but we believe that you have caught the drift.

Fariba warns against the government influence in FFIRI election.

In an interview with Mehr, Behtash Fariba referred to the upcoming elections of the Football Federation FFIRI and said: “The members of the Football Federation Assembly should elect a person as president who is independent, competent and capable of instigating changes in the federation.”

The former Team Melli and Esteghlal player further noted: “The next president of the Iranian football federation will have many problems and must be able to overcome these problems.”

He added: “Assembly members must choose the right person for football. As a footballer, I ask those who are in fact our representatives in the Assembly to steer football in the right direction with a proper choice in order to progress and develop. Rest assured that a good outcome will be achieved if the government does not interfere in the elections.”

Fariba, who has also played for   Pas club, continued in an interview with Mehr news: “I do not believe that the Ministry of Sports will remain idle and not interfere in the elections, I wish it would not interfere. I wish the government would not influence the proceedings of the election and running of football affair, but it is wishful thinking. Despite their public stance that  they (the government) would remain neutral and would not interfere, do not believe it.“

The Iranian football veteran pointed out ” Be rest assured that the Ministry of Sports has its own agenda and preferred candidate(s) and all efforts will be made to get their own candidate to win the presidency of the federation. This is modus operandi of the ministry that has a solid track record of appointing chairmen and board members of Esteghlal and Persepolis in order to manage and control these two most popular clubs of the nation and beyond.  The chaos and poor management style of the appointees of the Ministry are vividly visible to all. Now, do you think that the Ministry of Sports will neglect to exert influence in a place like the Football Federation? highly unlikely, in my opinion”

Mohammad Ali Karimi , is one of the candidates and has the broad support of footballers. His nominated deputy is another Iranian legend, Mehdi Mahdavikia.

World Cup qualifiers to be changed yet again!

There are strong indications that the upcoming two FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers of Team Melli against Cambodia and Hong Kong will be postponed and the possibility of playing all the remaining rounds of matches in a round-robin format in one country. This has made Dragan Skocic’s mission of qualifying that much harder for several reasons.

While some countries have suggested that the remaining matches should be held centrally because of the coronavirus, there are others that oppose that idea and insisting that the matches should be carried out on a home and away basis as normal while strictly observing health protocols and compliance with Covid19 prevention conventions.

Currently, several Asian countries are continuing ahead with football activities behind closed doors. The league competitions are held in this way in most countries and one of them is Iran.

It is natural for the Iranian Football Federation FFIRI to resist holding the games in a centralized venue, because Team Melli is hosting three of the remaining 4 games, and now if it is to play in a centralized venue, it will be deprived of home advantage. According to the Football Federation, the AFC has not yet sent a letter to the member states regarding the manner of holding the remaining games, and as far as the FFIRI is concerned, it would follow the last original schedule. However, it is hardly unlikely that such an arrangement will prevail. If the Asian Football Confederation decides to hold the remaining matches centrally, the Iranian Football Federation will vote for Qatar as the host of the games.

Another country that has announced its readiness to host Iran Group Games is the UAE. Interestingly, if the games are finalized in one centralized venue, the matches will be held at later dates possibly June 2021.

One issue with the single venue is that the matches will be held intensively, and this round of qualifiers will have to be over in less than two weeks. All teams must play 4 matches within 14 days.

In this scenario, the remaining qualifying rounds of FIFA World Cup 2022 matches will probably be held after the end of the league season, which means that Team Melli will not have a program in April.

Without a doubt, these will be stressful times for all the teams in the qualifiers and most of the teams need to go back to the drawing board to reschedule and change their plans. For Team Melli, it is of the utmost importance to arrange friendly matches to prevent the squad from being inactive and stagnant if the matches are to be held in June 2021.

“Wilmots Curse” Ban on recruitment of Foreign Coaches in Iran.

“Wilmots Curse” has struck Iranian football in an unprecedented way. The astronomical figure to be awarded for a sub-standard coach whose failure to win two crucial matches in FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers is threatening an early exit from the competition, has left an incurable scar in Iran’s football. The first immediate effect of that is the recent banning of new foreign recruits. The FFIRI had decided that a blanket ban will not only help preserve the flight of precious foreign currency but also minimize the inherint corruption in football.

The ban on recruiting foreign coaches and players was passed by the executive committee of the football federation FFIRI.

From next season, starting in a few week’s time, a blanket ban on recruiting foreign players and coaches is enforced for all clubs in the country

The following resolutions were approved by the executive board members in the meeting:

1- Approving the transfer ceiling of football players in the next season

2- Prohibition of employing foreign players and coaches for the next season in all clubs of the country due to the lack of foreign exchange resources and restrictions on foreign exchange transfers.

3- Extension of the contract of foreign players and coaches who have had contracts with clubs from previous seasons is unrestricted and upon the expiry of their contract, both sides can only renew or extend with the current club. Transfer to another club is prohibited

4 – All domestic players and coaches, without exception, who have a contract in Rials with their club must agree on a national currency (Rials or Tomans) in other options of the contract and nothing else.

5- Allocation of membership fees for Premier League football matches is mandatory in accordance with previous approvals.

6- Approval of regulations to determine the status of futsal players in compliance with legal requirements

7- Holding training courses conducted by internationally renowned trainers for trainers in the country in the form of webinars

8- Approving the performance and financial statements of the federation

9- Regarding the hosting of the 2027 Asian Cup, it was decided for periodical reports by the stakeholders on the progress of hosting requirements and capabilities.