Kambiz Ataba’y (كامبيز آتابای ) was the tenth Head of Iranian Football Federation (IFF) and the last one during the Imperial regime. He was also the longest serving head of the football federation.
The administration of football was run by Mostafa Makri who served in the capacity of Head of IFF from 1968 to 1973. His achievement was satisfactory and during his era, Iran won the Asian Cup on two consecutive occasions, Won the Asian Clubs championship and qualified for the Montreal Olympics Games in 1972. When Ataba’y took over the federation in 1972, he had a tough act to follow. The changes in sport structure in Iran at that time were inevitable as General Hojat Kashani replaced General Mostafa Amajadi as the head of the Physical Education Organization of Iran (PEO). That position was equivalent to Ministry of Sport. At those days, with every change at the top , traditionally , there would be changes in several sport associations as well regardless to the performance or achievements of the administrators or head of those associations. Although in the past Mostafa Makri worked successfully with two Heads of PEO in Parviz Khosravani and Mostafa Amajadi , the new head preferred his own man at the head of Iran’s football Federation and that man was no other than , Kambiz Ataba’y.
Unlike the previous Heads of IFF, Kambiz Ataba’y was not a footballer or involved in football management as much as his predecessors. His passion was in horse riding and he was a capable and champion at that sport. What he lacked in football pedigree was supplanted by his acute management skills and powerful political and social influences. He was the man that was capable of making things happen. Kambiz Ataba’y was servant of the imperial court during the Shah. He served in various capacities including as a personal assistant to the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. During the brief Coup and political turmoil in 1953, Kambiz Ataba’y was one of the companions of the shah and his wife Empress Sorraya Bakhtiyari and was on the airplane piloted by General Mohammad Khatami that took the shah out of Iran.
With such a pedigree and political clout, Kambiz Ataba’y was assured much support for the federation from across the country and government entities. During his reign, there were lots of administrative, organizational and infra-structure development, the kind of which was never been experienced in Iran at sports administration level. Ataba’y is credited for establishing the first ever proper Football league in Iran. The creation of “Takht Jamshid League” in 1973 as the first professional league in Iran soon turned into a successful and competitive league based on a format similar to that of European clubs. It is also considered as the first professional league in Asia. “Takht Jamshid League” grew in strength and stature supported by investment from the private sector and the government and guided by Kambiz Ataba’y endless effort to promote Iran and its football globally.
“Takht Jamshid League” ran from 1973 until 1978 just before the Islamic Revolution.
During Kambiz Ataba’y reign, he ensured proper education and training for the various personnel in Iran’s football. Such included various coaching and refereeing courses and educational seminars, run by FIFA or AFC. There was also a special attention to media and archiving as Ataba’y administration was the first to recognize the important aspect of the media and channel it to develop football. There was an annual publication which addressed and archived all the events of football in Iran, the type of which was never to be repeated until this day or 35 years later.
On his appointment as head of the federation in July 1972 , Ataba’y repolaced Mohammad Ranjbar as the head coach of Team Melli with his own choice , Mahmood Bayati. The achievements of Bayati included lifting of the first ever Asian Cup in 1968 in Tehran. Ataba’y took over right before the Munich Olympic games in which Iran managed a win against Brazil but two heavy defeats by Hungary and Denmark under Bayati. The unsatisfactory result of the Olympic Football games in 1972 was an awakening call for Iran’s football which had ambitions well beyond the continental successes. It was the catalyst for establishing a proper and well organized league system in Iran, and that was how Ataba’y proceeded.
In the first year of Ataba’y reign, Iran and for the first time, entered the World Cup qualifiers. Team Melli, after many strong performances failed at the last hurdle and by the narrowest of margins. In the penultimate match it lost away to Australia 3-0 in Sydney. In the return leg Team Melli managed to score two goals scored by Parviz GHLEECHKHANI within half an hour of the match kick off in the full capacity Aryameher Stadium (Azadi) , but despite the onslaught on the Australian goal, they did not manage to score the crucial third goal to tie the series. Australia qualified for the World Cup after defeating Iran 3-2 in the final series of qualifiers for World Cup 1974. Iran’s failure to make it to the finals of the World Cup strengthen the resolve of Ataba’y and he was relentless in pursuing every aspect of the game in Iran and beyond in order to achieve the ultimate goal set by his federation which was the domination of Asian Football and joining the elite of the World football.
One of the first steps in this grandeur plan was to recruit the best coaches of the world. In came the famous Manchester United coach, Frank O’Farrell. The Irishman came to Iran after a brief spell with Cardiff City after being sacked by Manchester United in December 1972.
In April 1974 he was recruited as the head coach of Team Melli and under the term of his contract, he was to create a pool of Iranian assistant coaches to serve as under studies in order to create professional coaching and managerial qualities for Iran.
Frank O’Farrell was assigned several coaches to work with including Heshmat Mohajerani and Asghar Sharafi. The plan worked immaculately as one of the understudies of the Irishman, Mohajerani later became a legend of his own right after the departure of the O’Farrell. The first real test for O`Farell and his Iranian assistants was the Asian Games. Iran was the host of the Asian Games in 1974. At those days, Asian Games had no age limits and most of the teams fielded their full strength national teams in the competition. Iran easily won the goal medal to register its first achievement under O’Farrell & Mohajerani.
Ataba’y’s ambition had no limit and winning for Iran was his ultimate goal. Following the success of the Asian games, the attention was focused on achieving a historical feat in Asia and that was the capture of the Asian Cup for the third consecutive time. No country has achieved that thus far. The opportunity was there for Iran as it was hosting the competition for the second time after 1968.
O’Farrell left Iran in September 1975 and it was left to Heshamt Mohajerani who took over at the helm of Team Melli, to make history.
That goal was achieved and the ultimate success came in 1976 when Iran won the Asian Cup for the third time running defeating Kuwait 1-0 in the final with Ali Scoring the winner from a free kick. With a spotless record of never losing a match in 3 consecutive Asian Cup competitions spanning 12 years, and never losing at home in official competition , Iran’s success in Asian football continued unabated. The glory days under Ataba’y’s administration also included wining the Asian youth competitions for the first time and subsequently winning the annual championship 4 times in total.
In the third year of Ataba’y’s heading the IFF, the up-and-coming Takht Jamshid league , extensively covered by the media, increased the number of the teams to 16. Several commercial projects were built around the success of this league.
In 1976 Iran qualified for its second consecutive Olympic Games football tournament, while winning the Asian Youth title for the third time under Heshmant Mohajerani. In Montreal , Iran’s performance was the best ever at a World Level prestigious competition such as the Olympics. Gholamhossein MAZLOOMI scored ran’s only goal in the 28th minute as Iran defeated Cuba 1-0 and then narrowly lost to Poland, a world Class team with household names such as Tomaszewski, Zmuda, Deyna, Lato, and Szarmach by a single goal margin 3-2. However, Iran qualified for the quarter finals where they met another powerful East European team in USSR. The Communist bloc nations had always fielded their full strength teams citing the fact that they were amateur players abiding by the Olympic rules which barred professional athletes form taking part in the Olympics. Again, Team Melli missed the qualification to the semi-Finals by the closet of margins losing 2-1 to goals scored by Minaev (40’) and Zvyagintsev (67’) while Parviz GHLEECHKHANI scored from the penalty spot on the 82nd minute.
Iran’s tournament ended in Montreal, but its stature and reputation as a powerful nation in football continued to be enhanced. In those periods countless number of European and Brazilian teams visited Iran for friendly matches and the lure of good payout handsomely awarded to the visiting teams.
In the fifth year of Takht Jamshid league , the bi-polar football in Iran had a different champion in Pas Club. The police team managed to break the monopoly of Taj (currently Esteghlal) and Perspolis by winning the title for the first time.
Pas Club of Tehran, repeated its championship in Takhte Jamshid league and the pinnacle of achievement for Kambiz Ataba’y and Iran football was the qualification for the FIFA World Cup in Argentina 1978. While the neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf with the help of abundance income form oil, realizing the importance and value of football success at the international, spent millions of petrodollar in foreign expertise recruitment for their football, Iran achieved it through purely Iranian players , coaches and administration.
To put icing on the cake, Iran also won the first Afro-Asian Challenge cup defeating the African Nations Cup winner Ghana 3-0 in Tehran
Iran’s success in football the mid to late seventies was unique. In Kambiz Ataba’y, a person with no recognized footballing pedigree, Iran found a person with exceptional management and administrative skills who set himself high goals and worked towards it with proper planning and resource management. Kambiz Ataba’y reputation went beyond Iran as the man made quite a name for himself in international football organization. He built a good repertoire with other federation in Asia and Europe. He was served as the Asian Football Federation (AFC) president from 1976 to 1978 taking over from the Malaysian president Tunku Abdul Rahman. He was the only Iranian to achieve this title.
Kambiz Ataba’y was undoubtedly one of the most successful administrators of Iran’s football. After the success of the Islamic Revolution , Kambiz Ataba’y fled the country fearing for his safety as he would have been identified and prosecuted as one of the royal followers.
After the revolution, Iran football went through turmoil and the era of Kambiz Ataba’y was never to be repeated.