Team Melli coach Marc Wilmots, who is seeking terminate his contract with FFIRI due to non-payment of his salaries by the Football Federation, will arrive in Iran on Monday to take control of the training session of the squad.

It is quite possible that this will be the last time the fans will see the Belgian Wilmots accompanying Team Melli unless the FFIRI forks out his salary and respects the signed contract. Wilmots faces a similar situation that Carlos Queiroz and before him, Branko Ivankovic has faced coaching Team Melli. Iran football federation is a notorious bad paymaster and has always blamed sanctions for not paying its employees.

On Sunday, the selectors released a new squad list which had several changes from the previous list that played Cambodia and Bahrain. Belgian based players Kaveh Rezai and Ali Gholizadeh were called up for the first time by Marc Wilmots.

Vouria Ghafouri's returns to the squad while defender Siavash Yazdani has been called up again after recovering from injury. Omid Noorafkan, who was invited as the 24th player on the previous Wilmots list, has not been called for Iraq match. Ashkan Dejageh Tractorsazi midfielder is out due to injury

One of the highlights of the list is the absence of the Portuguese based midfielder Mehrdad Mohammadi who played against Cambodia and Bahrain. Wilmots still has no positive opinion on English club Brighton's outcast Alireza Jahanbakhsh because of the loss of form and his exclusion from Brighton's squad. Mehdi Torabi, who has done well in Persepolis colours, has not been called up for the second time running. Persepolis, however, continue to have five players (Alireza Biranvand, Vahid Amiri, Ahmad Noorollahi, Mohammad Naderi and Hossein Kanani Zadegan) in the new roster and have the highest number of players in Team Melli.

Esteghlal and Tractorsazi Tabriz have 3 players each that is scheduled to face Iraq. Sepahan, with the omission of Omid Noorafkan and Morteza Mansouri, has only 2 players Piam Niazmand and Mohammad Mohebbi in the final list. Portuguese based striker Mehdi Taremi was also is on the list, is said to have suffered an injury and the possibility of losing the game to Iraq is quite likely.

Team Melli is facing Iraq this Thursday as FIFA decides to play change the venue from Basra to Amman in the wake of security concerns.

The Iranian Beach Soccer Team defended its title and won the Dubai Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup title for the second time in a row after a gallant performance against the powerful Spanish Team. The full house match in Dubai ended 6-3 for Iran after a thrilling match that saw both teams engaging in an offensive match. The holders outplayed their rivals in the final played at Jumeirah’s Kite Beach in Dubai on Saturday.

In the first period, Mostafa Kiani and Saeed Piramon scored for Iran, but Spain managed to equalize by scoring two quick goals to end the period 2-2.  In the second period, Spain scored the third goal with a penalty kick, but Iran's goalkeeper Hamid Behzadpour and Mohammad Ali Mokhtari scored to make the score 4-3 in favour of Iran.

In the final period, Iran's captain Mohammad Ahmadzadeh scored a spectacular overhead goal to increase the margin to two goals.. Ahmadzadeh was soon sent off by an agitated and nervous referee after Iran's Captain strong protest for what looked like a blatant foul on him but the free-kick was given to the Spanish team!

With the score standing at 5-3, Spain's pressure intensified to cut the two-goal deficit which left them vulnerable. It was Mohammad Masoumezadeh who took the opportunity to score the next goal for Iran and make it impossible for a Spanish comeback. Spain also was one player down after one of its players awarded a second yellow card and a dismissal. ]

In the end, Iran deservedly won a tough match against a strong opponent 6-3 win for Iran. Iran also won the championships in 2013 and 2018.

Iran Scorers

Mostafa Kiani (penalty), Saeid Piramoun, Mohammad Mokhtari, Hamid Behzadpour, Mohammad Ahmadzadeh Mohammad Masoumizadeh.

Hamid Estili invited 5 more players to Iran's Omid team preparing for the AFC Asian U23 qualifiers and prior to that, two friendly games against Indonesia. The names of the invited players in the third group are as follows: Meraj Esmaeili (Zob Ahan), Mohammad Moslempour (MachineSazi), Mohammad Aghajanpour and Sina Zamiran (Shahr Khodro), Ali Shojaei (Nasaji Mazandran).

FIFA refereeing committee, in one odd judgment, appointed an Arab referee for a crucial World Cup Qualifier involving an Arab Team against Iran!

At the request of the Iranian Football Federation, the referee of the match against Iraq was changed. In correspondence with FIFA, the FFIRI requested that the Jordanian refereeing team be changed in light of the Iranian team's match with Iraq in the qualifying round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The reason for this request was because of the Arab national team's rivalry and the Arab refereeing of the game WAS A CONFLICT.

FIFA accepted the request of Iran'S FFIRI and appointed the Sri Lankan referee team for the clash between  Iran and Iraq which will be held The main referee for the match is Dylan "Hitikamamji" Pereira.

Iran Beach soccer team defeated UAE in the semi-finals of the Beach Soccer Intercontinental Championships 2019 in a penalty shootout to qualify for the final match against Spain.

Yesterday, Iran Beach soccer team defeated the 3 times title holder Russia in penalty spot kicks after a 3-3 draw in regulation time. This is the second time in a row that Iran advances to the Intercontinental Cup final after winning the title in the last edition.

In the first period, the two teams played a low-risk game and created very few opportunities, one of those belonged to Mohammed Ali Mokhtari who had an open goal but his mild shot bounced off the sand and missing the goal by inches.  But two minutes later Iran's goalkeeper Hamid Behzadpour opened the scoring with a low shot from his own goal. The second period of the match was again played on a low key attack, and despite the fact that the Iranian team created some good opportunities, the brilliant UAE goalkeeper Al Bahri saved the day for the host on many occasions.

The third period of the game both teams still played cautiously, but UAE managed to score the equalizer against the run of play. Two beautiful shots by Behzadpour were repelled by the Emirati goalkeeper and the game was eventually extended to 5 minutes extra time. During the overtime, the hosts objective was to defend and hope for a penalty shoot-out. Last-minute Behzadpour's shot was again repelled by the UAE goalkeeper and the game went to penalty shootouts.

Kiani, Shir Mohammadi, Saeed Peramon, Mohammad Masoumizadeh scored Iran's penalties while the hero was Iran Keeper Peyman Hosseini who made a great save to deny the hosts reaching the finals.

In the final of the Intercontinental Cup 2019, Iran and Spain will meet for the title.

It should be noted that Iran national beach soccer team competed with two players less than their opponent in this match. Amir Hossein Akbari and Captain Mohammad Ahmadzadeh were not able to accompany the coasters due to the injury which had a major impact on Iran's game plan