Iranian clubs football has been experiencing one of its worst periods in the last decade. With the 4 Iranian representatives in the AFC Champions League all failing to reach the advance rounds of this edition of the championship and with no Iranian clubs winning the trophy since it was changed to the new format and renamed as AFC Champions League, it is hardly unlikely that any progress will be coming soon with the current state of football in Iran.

The major obstacle to Iranian football progress has always been identified by general consent and that is the poor management and administration. People who have no right to be anywhere near a football club are running the show in Iran and failing miserably. To the government which controls the entire football entity, it not a problem as they have a lot of contingency of loyalists who are content to replace those who are fired. The authority believes it is a blessing in disguise because it allows an opportunity to the maximum number of its proponents to have a job.

However, one major factor that indirectly impacts football development but hardly mentioned, is the Iranian media. Of course, since the media is entirely controlled by the state as well, its power is curbed and restricted which prevents it from being effective, truly critical and a game-changer. Many journalists found out the hard way that there are unwritten laws and a red line that they cannot cross. As recently as a few months back, some journalists that attempted to expose the widespread corruption in Iranian football, suddenly changed course and the subject was abandoned.  One can only speculate about the reasons, but such events can only lead to more speculations, rumours and conspiracy theories.

A combination of several factors renders the Iranian sports media ineffective its role. It is a poorly paid job and most of the journalist are juniors. Some media personnel have multiple jobs to make ends meet. Most experienced and veterans have moved on for better prospects or because the environment is not conducive to free journalism.

 Today’s Iranian football media is a weak and ineffective tool for addressing major issues. There is no investigative journalist to expose the illness of the system. There are the odd critical articles and coverages which are perhaps shy attempts to emphasise the role that media should play in terms of driving and sustaining football’s growth in the country.

In general, the media hardly addresses core problems and root causes. The media seems more at home filling its pages with news about clashes on or off the fields, disputes between the clubs or opposing coaches, antagonists quotes promoting rivalries and events that can be categorized as soap opera material. Iranian media seems to be happy to provide time and space to every Tom, Dick and Harry who opens his mouth seeking controversy about a football match. Nearly a week after the local derby between Esteghlal and Persepolis, a drab affair that was a bad advertisement for Iranian football, the media still fills its pages about the match with hardly any coverage on technical analysis, accurate and analytical information or any subject directly related to football. Almost the entire coverage is what Iranians call “Hashiye” which is kind of “Controversy”.

In Iran, The Minister of Youth and Sports has the major share of coverage in news articles. In other countries, such a personality is hardly even known amongst the fans and the media.

A change of mentality and mindset in Iranian media is essential to play its role and quite difficult to achieve.

The majority media personnel of this generation are young and newbies who are cheap to employ and easy to control. The seniors and the experienced generation are on the wane. Iranian sports media used to be a leading inspirational voice of sports in Iran. Its role has diminished to the equivalent of controversy seeking tabloids with the journalist preferring not to rock the boat. Even those controversies they cover have to be mild and be careful not to address the fundamentals, else thy will bury it with a blink of an eye due to fear of retribution.

About 3 years ago after Saudi Arabia along with close allies Egypt, UAE and Bahrain cut its diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, a pirate Satellite station popped up out of nowhere and started on sports piracy by broadcasting copy-right materials. Almost the entire broadcast rights that the Qatari owned channel, Bein sports was holding were transmitted by this entity on the Saudi Controlled Arabsat satellite

The station is called BeOutQ , which stands for Be Out Qatar, in defiance to the rights of legitimate organization Bein sports.  Tons of protests by Qatar government and  Bein sports organization who sought the support of FIFA and EUFA among many other service providers came to nowhere as the station, clearly supported by the Saudi Officials continued its piracy unabated.

BeOutQ was selling the box plus a one-year subscription for less than US$100 and was available in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE in clear violation of these countries intellectual property and copyright laws of which the latter two are ultra-strict in its application. The box was initially sold under the table, but later it was on the shelves and can be picked up even in some supermarkets!

The fact that these governments turned a blind eye to BeOutQ illegitimate activities and the transmission was through Arabsat, a Saudi government majority holding company,  showed that BeOutQ and its backers have no fear of retribution or sanctions. BeOutQ was emboldened by the reluctance of the western governments to question Saudi Arabia or upset its rulers as Khashoghji’s murder case was so evident.

Finally, it seems that the stakeholders had enough of the Saudi station and the following joint statement is the result of many years of Bein sports effort to stop the piracy.

Joint statement by FIFA, the AFC, UEFA, the Bundesliga, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Premier League on the publication of an investigative report into the operations of beoutQ

As rights holders of globally followed sports events, whose intellectual property rights have been breached on a systematic and widespread basis by the pirate broadcaster known as beoutQ, we have commissioned a leading industry body, MarkMonitor, to conduct research and produce a detailed and independent technical analysis of beoutQ’s operations.

The report confirms without question that beoutQ’s pirate broadcasts have been transmitted using satellite infrastructure owned and operated by Arabsat. The contents of the report are today being published in full on the rights holders’ websites to provide transparency about the facts of the case and to demonstrate the seriousness with which we, as global rights holders, view this issue.

As previously communicated, we have been frustrated in our attempts to pursue a formal copyright claim against beoutQ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, while we have received reports that beoutQ transmissions are currently disrupted, we nevertheless call on Arabsat and all other satellite providers to stop (and going forward agree to refrain from) providing a platform for piracy, which harms not just legitimate licensees, fans and players but also the sports that it abuses. Cutting off its access to transmission services would be a major step in the fight to stop beoutQ. We all, individually and collectively, remain committed to bringing an end to international sports piracy.

Team Melli former player Reza Ghoochannejhad created a historic return to the Eredivisie on Sunday. The striker came off the bench to score four goals as PEC Zwolle came from behind to defeat RKC Waalwijk 6-2.

PEC Zwolle got their first win of the season before the winter break, but head coach John Stegeman was then fined by the club for being found guilty of causing an accident whilst intoxicated behind the wheel.

Stegeman took charge of the game against RKC and saw his side take the lead in the 26th minute through Iliass Bel Hassani. However, RKC equalised two minutes later thanks to a wonderful strike by Melle Meulensteen.

RKC then took the lead in the 34th minute through PEC Zwolle loanee Clint Leemans, who saw his cross end up in the net. Leemans almost made it 3-1 but his free-kick came back off the post.

Ten minutes into the second half, Dennis Johnsen was forced off injured and Stegeman turned to Reza Ghoochannejhad, who was making his PEC Zwolle debut.

The Iranian striker equalised on the hour mark from Kenneth Paal’s cross and then he headed PEC Zwolle in front with ten minutes to go. Reza completed his hattrick two minutes later after just beating the offside trap.

Reza made Eredivisie history with his fourth goal in the 88th minute before Gustavo Hamer sealed a 6-2 win deep into injury time. Ghoochannejhad is the first player in Eredivisie history who has scored four goals after coming on as a substitute.