Category: News

Same old excuses repeated at FFIRI

According to Mehrnews, the cancellation of the friendly game of Team Melli against Canada has caused numerous criticism of Iran’s football federation (FFIRI) for not finalizing other friendly matches or considering other options. Meanwhile, the directors of communication of the FFIRI claimed that they had held talks with several associations, but in the end, due to various problems, these negotiations were fruitless.

Mohammad Javad Payendeh, Football Federation Public Relations Manager, said: “We negotiated with the Republic of Ireland, who declared their initial agreement, but later said that they could not assemble the players!.  Another association that did not qualify for the World Cup wanted us to bear all costs for a friendly match including transportation and accommodation which would have been close to $ 1.5 million.”  He added: “We negotiated with the major associations of teams from North America, South America, and Africa that did not qualify for the World Cup.  Among these countries, especially the Africans, there were some encouraging responses initially, and we are trying to hold two games on “Fifa day”.

Payandeh, who spoke to the “Stadium” Radio program, said that Mexico and Ecuador also wanted to play a friendly match with Iran: “The two countries offered to play in the United States, but the conditions for traveling to the United States are much more difficult for us than It was Canada”

For decades, such excuses have been passed to the fans. It comes from the same textbook regardless of which administration or who heads FFIRI. The end results were either downright failures or poor preparation. Queiroz suffered intensely from this federation however, he was proactive and realized the incompetency of the people in the Seoul Street building.  He, through personal contact and his network, managed to negotiate quite a few friendly matches during his tenure.

Dragan Skocic bemoans the surreal status of Team Melli

Dragan Skocic, finally reacted to the unsatisfactory state of the team’s preparation, as well as the cancellation of the Iran-Canada friendly match on FIFA day, by issuing a statement. In this message, Skocic criticized the federation and its officials, who these days are more concerned with lobbying and holding the federation assembly than with the national team and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

in the message on social media, Skocic said: “It seems that the rift between the executive members of the federation,  and holding of the Football Federation Assembly has taken a priority over more important issues such as Team Melli readiness for the World Cup, the preparations, and meeting the technical and logistical needs of the team. Those are no more the first priority of the relevant authorities. In the current surreal situation, the professional and ethical duty of the coaching staff and players is to do whatever they can with all their might to maintain their greatest asset of the national team, which is the passion and the hopes of the Team Melli fans right across the world. It is the sacred right of every Iranian to know more about the national team, especially what has passed and will pass on this valuable time from the beginning of the World Cup qualifiers until today.
The Croat coach ended his message by saying “That is why I will talk about this in detail in the next few days at a press conference.”

The Soccer Politics.

Why are we not surprised by the news that Canada has canceled the friendly match against Iran in Vancouver?

Competition-wise, it was an excellent test for Team Melli against a strong Canada team with similarities in style and physique to the Americans whom Iran would meet in Doha in the World Cup. In fact, despite the constant criticism that we have against the administration of the FFIRI, which remains quite poor regardless, pulling off such a friendly game was indeed a coup!

It was a long shot but somehow it was arranged to the credit of the FFIRI.

BUT…on the political side, it was a time bomb. Ultimately, politics won as it always does. Not very dissimilar to what we are experiencing against Russian football and athletes, except Russia claimed to be an aggressor in a war, while Iran has no such claims against it and has always been a target and a victim. Never mind the rhetoric of the self-proclaimed bearers of Human Rights, regimes like Canada cannot survive being independent of the American policies and Zionist influence hence Canada vs. Iran was always under threat. Iran playing right next door to the Americans would be a victory for the enemy and the Americans won’t like it. The US government would not allow that satisfaction for the Iranians.  Why would the Prime Minister of Canada intervene in a football match, doesn’t the man have more important things to do like running a country?

Trudeau simply did not want to upset his masters in Washington, the game was not going to happen, period. No doubt, Soccer Canada will come up with a bunch of excuses for canceling the game, but in reality, it is nothing but succumbing to political pressure no more no less.

In any case, this one-sided cancelation once again highlights the plight of Iran’s football lack of skilled and professional management. The FFIRI is in serious need of a competent cadre of highly experienced management personnel who have the skills, aptitude, and intelligence to run such an important organization in the country. Of course, we do realize that the government will never cease to interfere by pushing its own agents into the administration with all kinds of tricks, but there is still a great need to find a solution for this dilemma cum incompetency that is hindering the natural development of football in Iran.

Now that the Canada match is off, and that never officially confirmed match against Ecuador was also off, Iran has to scramble in the dustbin to find an opponent for the upcoming FIFA Day. It might even have to pay those pathetic Albanians after all to save Iran’s blushes and arrange a friendly game somewhere, possibly Doha.

In the end, it is no one except the FFIRI’s fault, no matter how many excuses they would come up with for Team Melli to be deprived of a strong opponent with only a few months left to the World Cup.

Futsal : Draw sets stage for Kuwait 2022

Kuala Lumpur: Reigning champions Iran were drawn in Group C of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ Kuwait 2022 on Thursday.
The 12-time winners will face Lebanon, Chinese Taipei, and Indonesia in the September 27 to October 8, 2022 Finals, to be hosted by Kuwait for the first time.

AFC Futsal Asian Cup Kuwait 2022 Official Draw Highlights

Kuwait will be making their 12th appearance in the tournament and will aim to impress in front of home support when they face Iraq, 16-time ASEAN champions Thailand and debutants Oman in Group A.

Bahrain will face the Central Asian trio of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan in Group C.

Japan, the only other team to lift the continental trophy, was drawn in Group D with Vietnam, the Korea Republic, and Saudi Arabia for company.
Draw
Group A: Kuwait, Iraq, Thailand, Oman
Group B: Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
Group C: Iran, Lebanon, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia
Group D: Japan, Vietnam, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia

Canada-Iran soccer friendly at Vancouver’s BC Place cancelled

Canada Soccer has canceled a planned friendly with Iran in the face of growing criticism.

In a one-paragraph statement, the governing body gave no reason for the cancellation of the scheduled June 5 game at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver.

But the idea of hosting the Iranian team, ranked 21st in the world, has drawn fire since it was first announced.

At issue is whether Canada should be hosting Iran given the Canadians who died on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 when it was shot down on Jan. 8, 2020, minutes after taking off from Tehran, by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. The Canadian government says 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents were among the 176 people killed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the game “wasn’t a very good idea,” pointing the finger at Canada Soccer. Conservative MPs added their voice to the protest on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims called for Canada Soccer “to cancel the game immediately.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2022.

Omid Team Squad announced

The FFIRI website announced that Mehdi MahdaviKia, the head coach of the Omid team, announced the final names of the U23 squad to participate in the Iraq training camp and the U-23 championship in Uzbekistan.

After replacing Reza Kakhsaz and Parsa Jafari. The two goalkeepers of Peykan and Zobahan instead of Sina Saeedifar and Alireza Rezaei, the goalkeepers of Esteghlal, announced the following: Amir Ali Sadeghi (Esteghlal) Yasin Salmani, Arya Yousefi (Sepahan) Alireza Bavieh, Mohammad Amin Hezbavi (Foolad Khuzestan) Reza Kakhsaz , Erfan Shahriari Khalaji, Saman Fallah Vernami (Peykan) Parsa Jafari, Milad Kerr, Mohammad Hossein Eslami, Mohammad Khodabandeh Lou (Zobahan) Payam Parsa, Ahmad Shariatzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Zavari (Naft Abadan) Mohammad Ghorbani (Nasiji Mazandaran) Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi, Mehdi Hashemnejad (Naft Masjed Soleyman) Amir Jafari Siglani (Shahr Khodro) Ali Javad Kalmarzi Sabet (Roda JC Netherlands) Yadegar Rostami (playing in the Polish league) Bilal Arazi, Ali Pilaram (South Pars) Alireza Khodaei (Saipa)

Geopolitics of Football.

The recent news of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s criticism against “Canada Soccer” for arranging a friendly international match against Iran in Vancouver, reflects on how geopolitics is affecting the game as much as how hypocritical and biased the western politicians are becoming.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the geopolitics of the invasion crept into the world of football. FIFA, the world governing body, under pressure from the west addressed the Russian invasion by suspending Russia and its football clubs from all competitions on February 28, including the ultimate one: the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar. The Justification was poor and unprecedented. There was no global and agreed UN resolution of any kind. FIFA never suspended the USA for invading Iraq or Afghanistan and committing genocides in the process.

The non-western world was shocked by such influence of politics on football. while FIFA always enforced its policy against the government and political interference in the game, it has historically tried to avoid geopolitics impacting the sport in principle. However, it is now clear that the game is not played on even grounds.

Nevertheless, the biggest shock that exposed the mentality of prejudice was the western Media’s hypocrisy and double standard. Although nothing to do with football, white reporters kept on highlighting the plight of civilized Ukrainian refugees, with white skin and blue eyes, in such acts of duplicity, prejudice, and downright bias that exposed the inherent bias against non-whites and people of other ethnic groups, races and/or religions. Embracing hate against non-whites, was perhaps subdued and carefully vetted but Ukraine made it flagrantly clear that extreme right and white supremacy is on the rise and sometimes flagrant.

It also highlighted that when it comes to their self-interest, the spirits of Olympics, sports, and others are dumped in the bin.

Russia’s suspension by FIFA was significant for two reasons. First, FIFA historically doesn’t punish countries for intrastate conflicts. Secondly, this is the first time that FIFA sided with boycotters. Moreover, the integration of politics with the World Cup goes beyond the Russian invasion, as the choice of Qatar as the host nation invited a significant backlash.

Normally, it is the role of the United Nations (UN) to sanction countries and member states following the resolution agreed upon. FIFA’s speedy suspension of Russia marks the first time since 1950 that FIFA allowed the intrastate conflict to play a role in its disciplinary decision-making without a prior United Nations (UN) resolution preempting it. Since World War II, most intrastate conflicts haven’t resulted in suspensions from FIFA. Two prominent examples stand out. England and Argentina participated in the Spain World Cup in 1982, despite the UK considering withdrawal during the Falkland War occurring earlier that year. Additionally, Iran and Iraq fought a brutal eight-year war during the 1980s, but FIFA suspended neither nation from the 1982 and 1986 World Cups (with Iraq being the aggressor).

Iran, itself has been condemned umpteen times for mixing politics with sport. Its boycott of the state of Israel is well known in every sport. Its Judo federation was finally suspended due to that. It is fortunate that Iran and Israel are far apart when it comes to football with The Jewish state not qualifying for the World Cup since its only appearance in Mexico in 1970. Can you imagine if Iran refused to play a country it does not recognize in a World Cup?

We have to face reality and that this world is controlled by the mighty powerful and the rich. Equality, human rights, peaceful existence, friendship, and understanding are all slogans that the west preaches to us and will use in their quest to dominate and influence the world. Unfortunately, football has fallen victim to this strategy. A character such as Trudeau, who is a known vehement anti-Iran politician with a special bias against the theocracy of the Mullahs, is part of such domination strategy and thus feels obliged to express his objection against a football match!

Fortunately, Canada is a democratic society where one person cannot dictate his whims or rules without the consent of the parliament. That cannot be said of Iran, of course.

And hence, Canada vs Iran match in Vancouver is on and 95% of the tickets have already been sold. Take that!

Canada Soccer under fire for scheduled international friendly vs. Iran

Toronto Sun
17th May 2022

Canada Soccer announced last week they would be hosting Iran at B.C. Place in Vancouver as part of a two-match homestand on June 5

Canada’s choice of opponent for an upcoming men’s international soccer match is drawing criticism from around the country, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

When asked about the match Tuesday, and why his government granted visas to the Iranians, Trudeau, who was in St. John’s, N.L., differed to Canada Soccer.

“This was a choice by Soccer Canada,” Trudeau said. “I think it wasn’t a very good idea to invite the Iranian soccer team here to Canada, but that’s something the organizers are going to have to explain.”

According to the Canadian government, 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents were among 176 people killed when Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by two Iranian surface-to-air missiles shortly after takeoff from Tehran en route to Kyiv on Jan. 8, 2020.

 

Canada Soccer chief marketing officer Sandra Gage put out a statement in the wake of the prime minister’s comments.

“At Canada Soccer we believe in the power of sport and its ability to bring people from different backgrounds and political beliefs together for a common purpose.

“Iran is one of 32 participating member associations at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Canada Soccer continues to follow all international protocols in staging this match. We are focused on preparations for our men’s national team to compete on the world stage.”

The exhibition game against Iran will be part of Canada’s preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup taking place in Qatar from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18.

Canada qualified for the men’s World Cup for the first time since its only previous appearance in 1986 in Mexico.

“That’s his opinion,” Vancouver Whitecaps and Canada striker Lucas Cavallini said to the Canadian Press about Trudeau’s comments. “But for us guys, for soccer players, we want soccer to grow here in Canada, and games like these are important for our nation, to bring the people closer to soccer.”

Iran also qualified for the World Cup, out of the Asian Football Confederation. They were drawn in Group B with England, the United States, and a yet to be determined European qualifier; either Wales, Scotland or Ukraine. Iran is 21st in the FIFA world rankings.

Iran will be participating in its third consecutive FIFA World Cup and sixth overall. Iran has never made it out of the first stage of the tournament and have two wins from 15 World Cup matches.

Its most famous victory was against the United States at the 1998 World Cup in France, winning 2-1 at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon. Iran also defeated Morocco 1-0 at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims have asked Canada Soccer to call off the friendly against Iran.

In a statement they said; “It recognizes the athletes’ rights to play diverse opponents and supports the sport and what the World Cup represents. However, it is offensive to the loved ones of Flight PS752 victims given the incredible loss they have endured at the hands of the IRGC (Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) and their ongoing efforts to seek justice for the victims.”

China withdrawal from hosting Asian Cup 2023 may see it back in the west Asian region.

China’s withdrawal from hosting the 2023 Asian Cup could see the showpiece shift west to the Gulf, where new infrastructure and voracious demand for major events have made the region a magnet for international tournaments.

Having planned to hold the Asian Cup across 10 cities in June-July next year, China dropped the 24-team tournament due to “exceptional circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said over the weekend.

The AFC said it would name a new host in due course but provided no detail and declined to provide immediate comment to Reuters.

AFC member nations were in the dark on Monday about the next steps.

“This is quite an unusual situation and so there’s no specific process that we are aware of on how things could go,” a spokesperson for the Korean Football Association (KFA) told Reuters.

“We just know that China has given up.”

The AFC has little time to appraise candidates and may not have a diverse set to choose from.

Governing body Football Australia declined to comment on whether it would put up its hand to replace China but referred to its busy calendar in 2023 as co-hosts of the Women’s World Cup with New Zealand, which starts on July 20.

All India Football Federation general secretary Kushal Das said India, which held the 2022 women’s Asian Cup this year, was focusing on its bid for the 2027 men’s tournament and had not expressed interest in stepping in for 2023.

South Korea, which originally lost out on its 2023 bid to China, had no comment on hosting but said it would require further consultation with home authorities.

“Basically, to host an international game …. firstly there should be talks with the government and the local authorities, but we haven’t heard or held any discussions on that yet,” the KFA spokesperson said.

Apart from India, reigning Asian Cup champions Qatar, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have all expressed an interest or submitted bids for 2027.

Qatar hosts the 2022 World Cup from Nov. 21 at a raft of purpose-built stadiums and may be best placed to slot in for the Asian Cup.

The 1988 and 2011 Asian Cup hosts, Qatar’s ambitions of becoming a global sporting hub have been backed by its ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and underpinned by its gas wealth.

It may come too soon for Saudi Arabia, which has made an aggressive entry into the international sports hosting market in recent years. The Saudi bid for 2027 included the building of three new stadiums and the expansion of three existing venues.

The region’s searing summers would mean both Qatar and Saudi Arabia would need to ask the AFC to move the tournament to cooler months later in the year or in early-2024.

Should few clear alternatives emerge, the AFC would likely prove accommodating to such a request, sending the tournament back to the Gulf four years after the 2019 edition in the United Arab Emirates.

Former FFIRI President Azizi Khadem banned for two years.

The ethics committee announced its verdict in the case of the ousted president and some officials of the then Football Federation.

According to ISNA and quoting the Football Federation, the final verdict was made after careful deliberations on the Executive Committee of the FFIRI and based on the finding of the Investigation Team and the report by the special audit committee.  The Executive Committee has declared that several members of the Football Administration, headed by the President Azizi Khadem have committed violations of the rules, amounting to illegal transfer of money, payment for services not rendered, authorizing payment for Persepolis Club without the knowledge and approval of the Executive Committee of the federation as required by the bylaws plus several other misdemeanors committed during the short tenure of Azizi Khadem in the FFIRI

The Committee, also referring to the Code of Ethics of the FIFA announced that Ali Soleimani Sarmi  (treasurer), Hassan Kamranifar (secretary-general), Vahid Fadaei (head of  finance), and Mohammad Babazadeh Darvish (former head of the legal affairs) have been found guilty of violating the ethical rules of football and according to the lawsuit dated May 15,

Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem has been sentenced to a total ban from all football and futsal activities for a period of 2 years and also to pay a fine of one hundred Million Toman

It also found  Ali Soleimani Sarmi to be guilty as charged and banned from all football and futsal activities for a period of 1 year and fined  30 million Toman

Hassan Kamranifar to pay a 40 million Toman fine while Vahid Fadai to pay 30 million Tomsn and  Mohammad Babazadeh to pay a fine of 30 million Toman.

Although the accusations against Azizi Khadem amounted to criminal negligence and misappropriation of funds which is punishable by Iranian laws, the FFIRI did not indicate if the case will be referred to the courts of law in Iran. The government, however, has the full right to investigate the case and has a track record in prosecuting corruption and funds misappropriation cases with severity in a country that is infested with financial corruption all across.