Month: September 2014

Portugal camp list announced

FFIRI announced the initial list of 26 players who are nominated to attend the Team Melli training camp in Portugal. The final list will be announced by Thursday.

Team Melli will be flying to Portugal on 4th October. The camp will be based in the capital Lisbon.

Two games have been arranged during this camp. On Friday 10th October Estoril will be Team Melli opponents while on Tuesday 22nd , Team Melli will face Benfica in its second test match.

The list includes Seyed Mehdi Rahmati who was blacklisted by Queiroz, with 7 goalkeepers on the list, which is a first in Team Melli’s squad lists, it remains to be seen if Rahmati is shortlisted for the next phase of Team Melli training. Daniel Davari has shown little interest in joining the squad and prefers to stay home for family reasons.

There is no place for Peyam Sadeghi because of his suspension, however, Hossein Mahini who is officially suspended by the League commission and the Military authority is included in the list !

Mehrdad Pooladi who is out of contract and has no club to train with , is named in the squad. Pooladi’s last competitive match was against Bosnia on 25th June 2014. He has not been playing or training for a league team for 3 months now, but his inclusion in the list is nothing too strange as Mehrdad Pooladi was once named in the squad while he was walking on crutches!

There are two players who are mentioned as being part of the list , but not announced by the FFIRI.

GOALKEEPERS

Rahman AHMADI, Alireza  HAGHIGHI,Sousha MAKANI, Alireza  BIRANVAND, Daniel DAVARI, Mohsen FROUZAN , Mehdi RAHMATI

DEFENDERS

Mehrdad POOLADI, Hashim BEIGZADEH,Jalal HOSSEINI, Pejman MONTAZERI,Ehsan HAJSAFY, Khosrow HEYDARI, Javad NEKOUNAM, AliReza JAHANBAKHSH, Soja’a KHALILZADEH, Ahmad ALE NEMEH, Steven BEITASHOUR, Mehrdad JAMAATI, Morteza POURALIGANJI, Ahmad ABDULLAZADEH, Hossein AmirHossein  MAHINI,SADEGHI,.

 

MIDFIELD

Yaghoub KARIMI,Andranik TEYMOURIAN, Omid EBRAHIMI, Ashkan DEJAGAH,
Reza HAGHIGHI SHANDIZ, Soroush RAFEI , SHOJAEI, Masoud, Ghassim HADDADIFAR, MohamadReza KHALATBARY, Saman NARIMANJAHAN

FORWARDS

Reza GHOOCHANNEJAD, Sardar AZMOUN, Karim ANSARIFARD, Mehdi SHARIFI

Team Melli U19 last hope for glory in 2014

Iran Youth team (Team Melli U19) will be competing in the AFC U-19 championship in Myanmar in October.

The team coached by the veteran youth teams coach , Ali Doustimehr , is the last chance for Iran to grab an honor in Asian tournaments after the disappointing failures of all the participating teams in AFC competition to gain any titles or qualify for World Championship. 4 teams from this championship in Yangon , Myanmar will qualify for the FIFA U-19 championship in New Zealand next year.

Ali Doustimehr
Ali Doustimehr

The competition will be a tough test for Iran as they are facing the host nation Myanmar and the strong Thai team. Doustimehr will have Mehdi Mahdavikia in a consulting role alongside him in Myanmar. The team seems to be well prepared and despite the cancellation of a proposed camp , the alternative plans world well according to the coach and Mahdavikia.

Saeid Ezzatollahei  who is currently playing for Atletico Madrid “B” team is included in the list , however , his availability for the competition is dependent on the club agreeing to release him.)

 

Competing Teams

Group A : MYANMAR, IRAN, THAILAND & YEMEN
Group B : UZBEKISTAN, AUSTRALIA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES & INDONESIA
Group C : KOREA REPUBLIC, JAPAN ,CHINA P.R. & VIETNAM
Group D : IRAQ, DPR KOREA,QATAR & OMAN

 

 

Group A Matches

Tehran Times (GMT +3:30)

Date
Time
Copmpetetion
Group
Home Team
Away Team
Venue
09-Oct-2014 12:30 AFC U19 Championship 2014 Group A Iran U19 Thailand U19 Youth Training Centre, Yangon
11-Oct-2014 12:30 AFC U19 Championship 2014 Group A Iran U19 Yemen U19 Youth Training Centre, Yangon
13-Oct-2014 15:30 AFC U19 Championship 2014 Group A Myanmar U19 Iran U19 Youth Training Centre, Yangon

Iran U19 23 players list

Maysam Joudaki (Central)

Hussain Mehraban , MohammadReza Bazaj (Khorasan Razavi)

Ali Hazami, Komeil Haghzadeh, Sasan Jaffari-kia (Khuzestan)

Payam Niazmand, Ahmad Gohari, Ali Gholizadeh, Seyed Majid Hosseini, Mahan Rahmani, Siavash Haghnazri (Tehran)

Mohsen Aghaye, Mehdi Amini, Armin Sohrabian, Mohammad Roshandel , Milad Sarlak (Isfahan)

Amir Muhammad Mazloom, Sadegh Moharrami (Gilan)

Saeid Ezzatollahei  (Atletico Madrid)

Saeid Aghaye, Youssef Seyyedi (East Azerbaijan)

Ali Fathian (Fars)

FFIRI disciplinary committee ruling on the Military Service.

Ismael Hassanzadeh , head of the Disciplinary Committee of the FFIRI has confirmed that the federation will deal firmly with any cases of fake Release Certificates from Military Service.

In a recent statement , Hassanzadeh said “We are awaiting the report from the League commission about those cases. Any player who is found to be in violation of the military service regulations or holding a fake certificate will be immediately suspended form playing league football.”

A recent statement  by Persepolis management have implied that Hossein Mahini, who is one of the players suspended by the federation due to violations of Military Service rules, will be soon be allowed to play for Persepolis until his case is heard by the authorities. This statement triggered fears amongst other clubs that Persepolis is wielding its power and influences to get their player off the hook while other clubs will be denied such privileges and remain suspended.

Ismael Hassanzadeh also refuted any suggestions that Payam Sadeghian will be pardoned putting an end to another widely circulated news that the suspended player is about to play for his club, Persepolis  and join Team Melli training camp in Portugal.

TV broadcast rights fail to produce agreement. FFIRI threatens to ban TV Cameras.

The negotiations between the Football federation FFIRI and IRIB on the subject  respect of broadcast rights of football matches have failed.

The two sides have been conducting a series of meeting in a hope of coming up with an amicable solution. However , the last meeting ended in failure as the two side did not agree on a fee . The broadcast of football matches on TV hangs on a balance. The disagreements seem to be quite big as a wide gap exists between the figures provided by each side for the broadcast right.

Ali Kaffashian , who was counting on the millions of dollars from TV broadcast to support his ailing federation , expressed his deep disappointment for the failure of the negotiations. He accused the IRIB of ignoring football rights and being uncooperative.

 IRIB figure for broadcasting the Football League matches is around 22 Billion toman , which the FFIRI is rejecting as being too low.   Kaffashian said that IRIB revenue from advertising during football matches is worth at least 4 times their proposed figure.

Asked by ISNA if this is the end of the long negotiations between the two parties, Kaffashian confirmed that there will be no more negotiation as IRIBI is steadfastly standing behind their original figure. “We will start a motion to prevent IRIB from broadcasting our league matches. The executive committee of the federation will meet soon and takes the appropriate action”

Asked if such motion has the support of the government, Kaffashian confirmed that the Ministry of youth and sport is supporting the federation in its demands. However, he admitted that other organs might have something to say about the issue of preventing the cameras from entering the stadia!.

On the other hand, IRIB rejected Kaffashian’s claims and accusations.

Majeed Zein-ul Abedin , head of Shabakeh 3 and chairman of development and strategy committee of IRIB , said in statement  “IRIB does not deal with threats and intimidation” referring to Kaffashian’s threat of banning the TV cameras.

“We have studied the market, checked our advertising revenue , conducted our due diligence and came up with the proposed figure we offered the football federation. We are committed to sports and football broadcasting and promotion. We are a government organization and both of our revenues and expenditures are under scrutiny and auditing as it is public money. We are held accountable for it.”

Zein-ul Abedin added “We have been buying TV broadest right for Iran for many years and are experienced in this field. We know the values of each competition. What we offered football is the best deal that we can do according to our research and studies not just on impulses or wishes. We should also remind the football federation that we are committed to other sports as well. There are many sport federations that have honored this country and we have a national obligation to broadcast their activities. None of them have asked for payment as football does.”

That last statement is probably a hint against the football federation which has failed to win any titles or glories for Iran, while sports such as Volleyball , basketball and handball of the country are becoming globally recognized.

List of Portugal camp players revealed.

The list of players considered for the Team Melli training camp in Portugal has been unofficially revealed.

The list was sent to the embassy of Portugal for Visa application , and someone has got hold of the list and distributed it.

Esteghlal had the lion share of players included with 7 followed by Sepahan Esfahan with 4. Persepolis has two players only however , the names of another two Hossein Mahini and Payam Sadeghian is also included despite restrictions and bans imposed on them!.

The legionnaires players will also be added to the list , despite the fact that the their clubs will not release them unless they are in FIFA Day duties and for a maximum of 3 days.

 

Players invited are as follows:
Esteghlal : Omid Ebrahimi, Yaghoub Karimi, Khosro Heydari, Mohsen Frouzan , Ando Teymourian . Amirhossein Sadeghi , Hashim Beikzadeh (7)

Sepahan: MohammadReza Khalatbary, Rahman Ahmadi, Mehdi Sharifi, Shoja’a Khalilzadeh (4)

Foolad Khuzestan : Sourosh Rafei , Mehrdad jama’ati , Ahmad Abdullahzadeh (3)

Naft Tehran: Alireza Birnavand , Pouraliganji.(2)

Persepolis : Sousha Makani , Reza Haghighi , (Payam Sadeghaian & Hossein Mahini conditional to Military Service)  (2+2)

Tractorsazi: Ahamad Ale Nemeh (1)
Zob Ahan: Ghassim Haddadifar (1)

 

Team Melli will be setting camp in Portugal around 10th October. According to the FFIRI , there will be playing 3 friendly games with yet to be confirmed teams. The camp is the first stage of preparation for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 Australia. Iran group rivals have started preparation 3 months ago conducting training camps and playing friendly matches.

Deputy Minister “It is better not to participate in the Olympic Qualifiers with this team”

Deputy Minister for Youth and Sport said that the sports federations whose results were well below expectation are themselves accountable for their performances in the Asian Games. Nasrollah Sajjadi, speaking on a TV show on Friday , earmarked the FFIRI for special mention criticizing the poor performance of the football team. “If this is all what the footballers can offer, then I see no point of this team competing in the preliminaries of the Rio Olympic Games. “

“Other countries reap the awards of their hard work. The football federation is solely responsible for this team and it is obvious that this team was not prepared well.  Being third in a 3 team group is not exactly a matter of bad luck either.”

Iran’s u-23 team was eliminated from the group stages of the Asian Games for the first time in decades after losing to Vietnam 4-1 and drawing with Kyrgyzstan. None of these two teams in Iran’s group made it beyond the next round, which magnifies the ghastly performance by the U-23 team coached by Nelo Vingada.

Kaffashian ” I will be honored to be ousted from my position!”

Ali Kaffashian has stated that it is an honor to be ousted from his position as the President of the FFIRI by the General Assembly!

The comment by Kaffashian was in response to Amir Abedini who has started a move to dislodge Kaffashian from his position citing amongst various issues, the poor management and administration of the federation, poor planning and lack of strategic outlook  , bad results by National football Teams representing the country.

“I welcome such a move, in fact , I will even show them how to do it (…) It needs 15 representatives to declare the no-confidence vote and if that quota is reached , then it will be my honor to be removed”.

Commenting on the results of youth teams, Kaffashian claimed that “Iran teams have not played so badly in the recent tournaments. We are not after results, in any case. Admittedly, the other Asian Teams have worked quite hard.”

Kaffashian reiterated the admission of committing a mistake in the arrangement of Iran’s U23 squad to Asian Games. “Originally we planned to send the U21 team to Incheon, but due to a last minute decision change, we added a few older players. This has disrupted the team rhythm”

“We are supposed to upkeep this U21 team and prepare it for the Olympics qualifiers. If we wanted to send this team to Incheon, where most of the opponents are sending their full strength teams, it would  have been an unfair competition (…) !”

“Our aim is to keep Vingada until the Olympics. God willing, we will arrange a few friendly games to assess his work with the squad. After the analysis and review of those games, we will decide on our future relationship with Vingada.”

Kaffashian confirmed that Team Melli players, who have been suspended by the authorities for holding fake Military Service Release Certificates, will not be invited to Team Melli. The Head of FFIRI also confirmed that he will not interfere with Queiroz selection or lack of in regards to Aghili and Rahmati.

Ali Kaffashian is known for his contentious and controversial statements. Some amount of tongue-in-cheek is usually attached to his statements to add fun , according to his justification. However, he is going beyond the border of professionalism and authenticity by these latest statements. Not only is he covering the trues facts of the events, he is making a mockery of his position by sheer lack of knowledge or deceitful whatever the case might be.

 No team is allowed to field more than 3 over-aged players in the Asian Games that has an age restriction of U23. Kaffashian’s statement that the other teams are fielding their full strength team is quite misleading. The last minute change of mind of the federation which led to replacing 7 players, was enforced by the Iranian Olympic Committees (IOC) policy that mandates teams/athletes representing  Iran in Asian and Olympic Games must stand a chance of winning a medal. The Asian and the Olympic Games have never been a trial fields for athletes as Kaffashian is suggesting.

The Irony of all this is that Kaffashian , being an ex-executive of IOC , should have known this fact!

Kaffashian’s statement that he will be honored to be dislodged from his position is as zany as they come!  Who, in his right mind, will be honored to be kicked out of his job?

 In hindsight, it will be an honor for all Iranian fans if he is actually removed or replaced but given a decent farewell party and a thank you for a job that was not very well done. Someone else, less talkative more industrious, a strong leader, knowledgeable decision-making, a veteran in sports administration should be given the opportunity to turn the fortunes of football in Iran.

Ali Hamoudi and Hossein Mahini suspended from football activities.

Persian Gulf Football league commission has announced today that Hossein Mahini of Persepolis and Ali Hamoudi of Sepahan are suspended from football activities in the league as the result of the finding by the appropriate authorities confirmed that the players’ Military Service Release Certificates are void and improperly issued based on false data.

Until such time these two players sort their status, they cannot play for their clubs in the league or any official competitions.

Hamoudi and Mahini are amongst a long list of footballers that have been discovered to be carrying Military service release certificates issued upon provision of false information to the authorities. The investigation has been going on for several months now and the verdict is yet another blow for the already tarnished image of Iran’s football.

 In another development related to the same issue, it is rumored that Arash Afshin is amongst 4 players who are taken into custody in Ahvaz, Khuzestan in relation with falsifying official government documents for the purpose of defrauding the public and the government. There was no confirmation from the clubs or other official sources.

Bakhtiyar Rahmani is another player who is also mentioned in this list; He is currently injured but faces the same castigation as the rest of the players who are found to be guilty of fraud.

Hossein Mahini , Bakhtiyar Rahmani , Ali Hamoudi and Arash Afshin are all current or former Team Melli players.

The expected shock : Iran U23 elimnated from the Asian Games.

In what is probably the worst day for Iran’s football in decades, the elimination of the football team from the Asian Games men’s football competition was confirmed after Vietnam defeated Kyrgyzstan 1-0 this morning. With this result, Vietnam (6 points) and Kyrgyzstan (1 point) have qualified for the next round while Iran is out on goal difference.

The last time Iran was eliminated from the group stages was in the Asian Games Hiroshima, Japan in 1994 when Iran marginally failed to qualify after winning 1 match drawing 2 and losing 1.

The Asian Games regulations requires the teams or the individual to leave the Games accommodation within 24 hours, but an angry reaction from under pressure Kaffashian and the Iranian IOC , resulted in orders for the football team to leave the Olympic Village immediately and catch the first plane home.

The inquest in this shameful exit will no doubt be carried out, but we seriously doubt that anyone or any group will take the blame or accept accountability. The coach Nelo Vingada accepted the blame for the defeat but already declared that he will not resign!

Kaffashian has stated that other teams are getting stronger, which pretty much means that Iran can be defeated by any Asian team so there is no need to get excited about defeats, if one accepts Kaffashians mentality!

In the midst of all this, the real effect is on the fans of team Melli who passionately follow and support their teams but in return, they all getting abysmal results followed by a thorough packages of justifications from the “Merchants  of Speech and Preaching ”.

 

Iran Football performances in the Asian Gems Men Football competition.

1951 New Delhi, India                – Silver Medal

1954 Manila , Philippines            – DNP

1958 Tokyo, Japan                    – Eliminated from group stage (Worst ever results)

1966 Bangkok, Thailand               – Eliminated from group stage 

1970 Bangkok, Thailand               – Eliminated from group stage

1974 Tehran, Iran                    – Gold Medal

1978 Bangkok, Thailand               – DNP

1982 New Delhi, India                – Quarter Finals ( lost to Kuwait 0-1)

1986 Seoul, South Korea              – Quarter Finals ( lost to S. Korea on penalties)

1990 Beijing, China                  – Gold Medal

1994 Hiroshima, Japan                – Eliminated from group stage   (5 points in 5 team group)

1998 Bangkok, Thailand               – Gold Medal

2002 Busan, South Korea              – Gold Medal

2006 Doha, Qatar                     – Bronze Medal

2010 Guangzhou, China                – Fourth place

2014 Incheon, South Korea            -Eliminated from group stage