Category: News

Sardar Azmoun signed by Bayern Leverkusen in the summer

Bayer Leverkusen have confirmed the signing of Sardar Azmoun from the summer of 2022, with the Iranian international joining from Zenit St. Petersburg on a five-year contract.

Azmoun, a 27-year-old forward with an eye for goals and assists, will compete for a place in Leverkusen’s starting attack with Patrik Schick and Lucas Alario when he makes his move to Bundesliga football in the summer.

“[It is] a step from the best club in Russia to one of the best leagues in Europe,” he told the Bundesliga club's website.

“Bayer Leverkusen have a really great squad. I’ve been keeping an eye on the club for a long time and am impressed by the team’s style of play. It’s incredibly exciting for me soon to be able to play in the Bundesliga. And I’m convinced I’ll make the team even better with my footballing ability.”

Capped 60 times by Iran, an impressive 39 goals for his country compliments his selection for the World Cup in 2018 and two Asian Cup squads in 2015 and 2019.

As well as being the youngest Iranian to score in a UEFA Champions League game, he is also the Iranian record-holder for the most goals scored in the competition with six goals.

He has spent his professional career entirely in the Russian top flight with two spells each at Rubin Kazan and Rostov preceding his transfer to Zenit in 2019.

In St. Petersburg, he has found the net 62 times in 104 appearances across all competitions. He was named Russia’s Footballer of the Year for 2021 and his impressive goal stats have continued into this season, in which he has scored 10 goals in 21 games – including two strikes in the Champions League.

“We’re delighted to have completed this transfer,” said Leverkusen's sporting director Simon Rolfes.

“Sardar Azmoun has been one of Russian football’s top goalscorers for several years. He’s been champion three years in a row there with Zenit, regularly played in the Champions League, and shown himself to be of international class at the highest level. Our attack gains extra quality with him. Sardar will make our attack even more unpredictable and powerful.”

Managing director for sport, Rudi Völler added: “He’s very quick, good in the air and has a good sense for space. But he’s not just a goalscorer. Sardar Azmoun also sets up a lot of goals and is an outstanding fit for the Werkself as a player who combines well with others.”

Miguel Rodrigo turns down Futsal Team Melli assistant coach post.

Vahid Shamsaii after being appointed as the head coach of the Iranian national futsal team said they will have a Spanish coach on the technical staff cadre. In this regard, negotiations were held with several Spanish coaches, but some of them refused the offer to join the technical staff of the Iranian national futsal team. One of them is Miguel Rodrigo, a 51-year-old experienced Spanish coach. Miguel, who has worked for the national futsal teams of Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam and has comprehensive knowledge of Asian futsal, refused to work as an assistant in the technical staff of the Iranian national futsal team. In a conversation with Mehr reporter, while confirming the negotiations has been held between him and the FFIRI, this coach explained the reason for rejecting Vahid Shamsai's offer by saying  " I am a head coach and not an assistant. I thanked him for this offer, but I am not interested in being Shamsaii's assistant."

The news increases the pressure on the futsal team as many critics have questioned Shamsaei's appointment. While none deny his legendary status as a player with world-class quality, very few believe he is ready to coach Iran's futsal team into continental and world competitions. The appointment of a quality coach to cover his coaching skills and lack of experience seemed to be the proposed solution.

Omid Team to start a training camp alongside Team Melli.

The Omid National Team Camp begins at the same time as the Team Melli at the National Team Camp. According to ISNA, with the plans made by the technical staff and the announcement of Mohammad Mohammadi, the head of the Omid national football team, the camp of this team will start on the 24th or 25th of January, and players under the age of 23 will be called to the national team camp after three months. . The Omid national team camp will be held at the same time as the senior national team camp - which is preparing to meet Iraq and the UAE in the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers - and MahdaviKia's boys will hold several training sessions and two preparatory matches for a week.

According to the plan, two Premier League teams will be the opponents of the Omid national team, to help the U23/Olympic team prepare better. Mehdi Mahdavikia and his assistants will arrive in Tehran in around the 21st of January. Previously, the work visas of three foreign assistants of Mahdavikia have been issued b

In the period between the departure of Mahdavikia and his assistants from Iran, the games played in the Premier League have been regularly reviewed and analyzed. One of Mahdavikia's assistants has been assigned to evaluate new and potential candidates for the Omid team in Iran's first and second division leagues for a long time so that new faces can be added to the Omid national team in the upcoming camp. Over the next five months, Mahdavikia seeks to identify new members and bolster his team's strengths and ensure the weaknesses are mitigated in order to participate in the AFC Under-23 Championship, which will be held in Uzbekistan in mid-June.

List of Iran National Women Football Team for AFC Asian Cup 2022

 
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 GK Zohreh Koudaei 24 November 1989 (aged 32) 30 0 Iran Zob Ahan
2 DF Fatemeh Amineh 3 June 1997 (aged 24) 12 0 Iran Shahrdari Sirjan
3 DF Hadieh Kor 0 0 Iran Malavan
4 DF Melika Motevalli 6 May 1998 (aged 23) 15 2 Iran Shahrdari Sirjan
5 DF Ghazaelh Banitalebi 5 0 Iran Zarebatrie
6 MF Zahra Sarbali 13 August 1993 (aged 28) 21 0 Iran Bam Khatoon
7 FW Afsaneh Chatrenoor 14 April 1998 (aged 23) 16 0 Iran Shahrdari Sirjan
8 DF Behnaz Taherkhani 22 May 1995 (aged 26) 20 3 Iran Bam Khatoon
9 FW Sara Ghomi 20 August 1987 (aged 34) 52 17 Iran Heyat Alborz
10 MF Sara Zohrabi 13 November 1996 (aged 25) 25 6 Iran Sepahan
11 MF Samaneh Chahkandi 28 March 1989 (aged 32) 21 3 Iran Bam Khatoon
12 GK Maryam Yektaei 19 June 1993 (aged 28) 32 0 Turkey Beşiktaş
13 MF Yasaman Farmani 12 February 1995 (aged 26) 8 0 Belgium Charleroi
14 MF Elham Farahmand 12 September 1993 (aged 28) 10 0 Iran Zob Ahan
15 DF Zohreh Jalali 16 February 1999 (aged 22) 0 0 Iran Zarebatrie
16 MF Zahra Masoumi 18 June 2004 (aged 17) 3 0 Iran Heyat Alborz
17 FW Negin Zandi 20 January 2004 (aged 18) 4 1 Iran Bam Khatoon
18 MF Melika Mohammadi 28 March 2000 (aged 21) 6 0 Iran Bam Khatoon
19 DF Fatemeh Adeli 16 July 1995 (aged 26) 22 0 Iran Sepahan
20 FW Hajar Dabbaghi 22 March 1999 (aged 22) 16 6 Iran Sepahan
21 MF Marzieh Nikkhah 25 November 1992 (aged 29) 3 0 Iran Sepahan
22 GK Arefeh Seyedkazemi 1 0 Iran Shahrdari Sirjan
23 MF Sana Sadeghi 12 June 2000 (aged 21) 7 1 Iran Sepahan

Vahid Shamsaei appointed as head coach of Iran's Futsal team.

The former captain of the national futsal team Vahid Shamsaei has been appointed as the head coach of the National Team and a successor of Nazima al-Sharia.

The football Federation FFIRI after the meeting of the Board of Directors this morning (December 12) at the National Football Center, reached this decision and was subsequently announced to the public. Meanwhile, Ali Sanei was also appointed as the head coach of Iran's national under-19 futsal team.

Iran's last participation in the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021 was deemed as a disappointment after losing to Kazakhistan in the quarter-finals. Nazima al-Sharia came under heavy criticism after the elimination of Iran and failure to repeat the achievement of the last World Cup.

 Shamsaei, a legend in his own right, began his coaching career with Tasisat Daryaei in 2014 in a Player/coach capacity. In 2020–2021 season he moved on to Giti Pasand also as Player-coach. Shamsaei is the world's top futsal scorer, with 392 in 189 appearances for Futsal Team Melli. He is officially the world's Top Futsal Goalscorer with 82 goals ahead of Manoel Tobias of Brazil national futsal team, the previous holder of the title with 302 goals.

Shamsaei has won two titles with Tasisat Daryaei.

Team Melli : FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers updates.

The preparation for Team Melli is on its way after the return of head coach Dragan Skocic from his homeland. The Croat coach will be preparing the final list for the upcoming matches vs. Iraq and the UAE on 27th January and 1st February respectively.

There is no major changes or surprises are expected from the new list and it is pretty certain that Mehdi Taremi who missed two matches of the qualifiers, will be invited back to the team. Barring any serious injuries, the squad list will be close to the last one.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022
AFC ASIAN QUALIFIERS - GROUP A

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES v    SYRIA

LEBANON  v    KOREA REPUBLIC

                                                                            SAIDA MUNICIPAL STADIUM
15:00
(SAIDA)

IR IRAN   v   IRAQ

18:30
AZADI STADIUM
(TEHRAN)

Qualification possibilities.

With the 3rd rank team, UAE on 6 points, which is 10 points behind Iran, a win against Iraq will increase Iran's points to 16 assuring qualification for the third consecutive FIFA World Cup. A win for UAE against Syria increases their point to 9, the maximum point the UAE can achieve from their remaining 3 matches is 9 only.

Team Melli will be highly motivated to register a win in Azadi and celebrate the early qualification.

Since the last two matches, the Legionnaire players have been al doing well except for a brief goal drought by Taremi, However, the Porto forward has scored in his last two consecutive matches  Azmoun is involved in a transfer struggle with Lyon being the most possible destination. Ansarifard and Hajsafy are well settled in AEK Athens and have been scoring goals too.

GROUP TEAMS BRIEFS

IRAQ

 

Iran injury vows continue. A key player in the Iraq team's defensive line has been injured, and this has raised concerns for the team. Zargham Ismail,  is injured and will most probably not recover in time for the match against Iran, and Rabin Solaqa, another Iraqi defender who plays in the Thai league, is also infected with the Coronavirus, and there are rumors that he will not be invited to the squad. Mohammad Qasim is another key player for the Iraqis, who is also very unlikely to recover to play this crucial game. Iraqi is scheduled to play a friendly match against Uganda in Baghdad before facing Iran, after which it will depart for Tehran.

It is also believed from unofficial sources that the trio of the Iraqi national team players: Saad Natiq, Mohammad Daoud, and Alaa Mahawi, have outstanding administrative problems that prevent them from being selected for the squad to face Team Melli.

UAE

The team was in crisis after the humiliating 5-0 defeat against Qatar in the recently concluded Arab Cup. There were calls to sack Van Marwijc but the UAE FA did not find it appropriate to change the coach at this crucial stage of the competition.  UAE still stands a chance to qualify for the play-off if it can maintain the 3rd rank with 4 matches to go.

No major absentees have been announced but the final squad list for the two matches against Iraq and Iran have yet to be announced.

KOREA REP.

 

Bad news for the Koreans with their star player Son Hyung-min injury in the match against Chelse in Carabao cup semi-finals. Son will not be able to accompany his country's national team for the World Cup qualifier due to due to a muscle injury according to the Tottenham Hotspur announcement.

Korea still has a good squad but the game against Lebanon in Sidon will be a tough test for the Koreans and three points is not a foregone conclusion. Korea Rep trails Iran by two pints at the top of the group.

SYRIA

The temporary committee in charge of managing the affairs of the Syrian Football Association announced that it had reached a final agreement with Romanian coach Tita Valerio, for the latter to continue coaching the Syrian national team, after long negotiations that brought the two sides together for more than 60 days.

For his part, Valerio confirmed that he will do his best to achieve what is required in the remaining matches in the Asian qualifiers of the World Cup, especially in the next two matches against the UAE and South Korea.

Tita indicated that he had contacted Omar Khribin and Omar Al-Soma, and confirmed the inclusion of the two strikers in the list of Syrian squad.

Meanwhile, the federation is active in recruiting players of Syrian origins in Europe. The Expatriate Committee has identified six such players of Syrian origin active in Europe, at the request of Romanian coach Valerio, who is looking into the possibility of utilizing their services in the remaining matches of World Cyp qualifiers.

Four players who are active in Sweden League: Matthias Behnan, Sherko Shehab, Almar Abraham, and Mark Gerges, have already completed the formalities and arrived in Aleppo to join the squad.

Iran futsal players candidates of the best in the world.

Iran's Futsal is enjoying a successful period and is considered one of the top teams in the world. It is now ranked 6th and many players have enjoyed success as legionnaires too, Futsal Planet website which sponsors the annual best-of Futsal players has nominated Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh as the candidate for the best player of the year while his compatriot and national teammate Salar Aghapour as the candidates for the best young player of the year. Soheila Molmouli is also on the list of the best women futsal players.

The prestigious site of Futsal Planet is the global reference for futsal and the list of this year's candidates includes the top layers in the world of futsal.

Additionally, Mes Sangoon is nominated as one of the best clubs in the world.

Former finalists Persepolis kicked out of Asian Champions League

By Michael Church

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Two-time Asian Champions League finalists Persepolis from Iran will not play in the 2022 edition after having their licenses to participate withdrawn, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Friday

Tehran-based Persepolis, who lost in both the 2018 and 2020 finals of Asia’s elite club competition, are one of three Iranian clubs to have had their licenses revoked.

Esteghlal, winners of the 1970 and 1991 Asian Club Championship -- the forerunner to the Asian Champions League -- and Gol Gohar Sirjan are the others.

“The ECB (Entry Control Body) determined that the three clubs had not satisfied all of the mandatory criteria ... and, accordingly, should not have been granted licences to participate in the AFC Champions League 2022,” the AFC said.

Esteghlal, who were also kicked out of the 2007 edition for failing to submit their players’ list on time, had been due to feature in the qualifying rounds after a third-place finish in the Iranian league.

Gol Gohar Sirjan did not qualify for the competition but the sanction means they cannot be nominated as a replacement for either of the excluded teams.

Foolad have already secured their spot in the group phase after winning last season’s Hazfi Cup, Iran’s primary domestic knockout competition, while league runners-up Sepahan will play in the qualifiers.

The draw for the 2022 Asian Champions League will take place on Jan. 17.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal are the defending champions after they defeated Pohang Steelers from South Korea in the final in November.

 
 

Esteghlal & Persepolis on the brink of elimination from AFC Champions League.

The two most popular clubs in Iran Esteghlal and Persepolis football teams are on the verge of being eliminated from the 2022 AFC Champions League due to the non-compliance of their obligations to the Asian Football Confederation.

The AFC deadline for Esteghlal and Persepolis to resolve two major issues, joint ownership and tax debt, expires next Monday, and there is little hope that either club can resolve these issues given that the issue could not be resolved in almost 43 years olds. The seriousness of the matter has led Dariush Mostafavi, head of the Professional Licensing Appeals Committee, which is in fact one of the arms of the Asian Football Confederation and the AFC communication bridge between clubs and the Football Federation, to personally ask the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, to address these issues directly. Mostafavi also called on Ali Shamkhani, chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, to hold meetings to remove obstacles in front of the two teams and try to prevent their expulsion from the competition, handing over the two clubs administration and control to "their own people" who are "trusted".

In a comprehensive interview that Dariush Mostafavi's gave to Radio Varzesh on Thursday evening, the former Persepolis, Team Play player, and a former head of the Football Federation, FFIRI underlined that the expulsion of Esteghlal and Persepolis has nothing to do with the managers of the two clubs and the football federation, and more to do with the structure, administration, and ownership of the two clubs.

The AFC requires team participation in its competition to achieve professional status with licenses issued according to strict guidelines and bylaws. Neither Persepolis nor Esteghlal have earned the license and hence they are not qualified as professional clubs.

Esteghlal and Persepolis and both owned by the government of the Islamic Republic. Appointments are directly controlled by the Ministry of Youth & Sports. Both clubs were taken over by the government right after the revolution in 1979. As such one of the basic and essential requirements of a professional and independent club is lacking in such a scheme.

Government after the government promised the masses that these two clubs in a partisan football of Iran will be returned to the private sectors, on the strict condition that the owners pass through unclear criteria, Islamic competency, and be approved by the regime's higher counsels. Apparently, in many decades, the government has not found a suitable company or a group of people deemed to be eligible to run Persepolis and Esteghlal!

Italy beats Iran futsal in the second match.

After the defeat in the first of the two friendlies matches in  Salsomaggiore Terme, the Italian national futsal team redeems itself in a big way by surviving a late challenge, in the match against the powerful Iran team, ranked seventh in the world.

Italy's approach to the game was promising, so much so that in the middle of the first half  Gui, perfectly assisted by the usual Merlim unlocks the challenge with a flying torpedo. The second goal comes at a tight turning point, with the same Gui serving Caponigro who, as soon as he enters, invents a brilliant backheel shot that is worth doubling. 2-0 for Italy.  For the Feldi Eboli player, it is the first goal with the Italian national team shirt. The first half of the Bellarte team was at the limits of perfection, but Iran is a great team and in the final minutes manages to equalize the match from the double of the regular scorer Abbasi.

In the second half, however, it is still a great Italfutsal, with Bellarte playing the wild card Berthod: the Goalkeeper of the Under 19 plays with a great personality in the second half. In the fifth minute, Nicolodi finishes a super action of Musumeci to put Italy ahead 3-2, then right from the feet of Berthod the maneuver of the new double advantage is born. The Aosta goalkeeper throws with a perfect assist, for De Oliveira who pushes the ball into the net. The score is now 4-2 for Italy which tries to control the pace of the game, but Iran activates the powerplay movement, always managing with Abbasi to bring the score back to 4-3. That was a warning that Iran was on the brink of a comeback. Merlim and his teammates defended with the grit of their teeth until the final whistle, taking home a sweet-tasting victory in the last outing before focusing on Euro 2022.

ITALY-IRAN 4-3 (2-2 p.t.) ITALY : Pietrangelo, Murilo, Fortini, Merlim, De Oliveira, Nicolodi, Caponigro, Musumeci, De Matos, Gui, Arillo, Stringari, Podda, Berthod, Molitierno.

Coach: Massimiliano Bellarte IRAN: Sepehr Mohammadi, AliAsghar Hassanzadeh, Hossein Tayyebi, Mehdi Karimi, Alireza Rafeipour, Hossein Derakhshani, Jamedi, Moslem Oladghobad, Ahmad Abbasi, Mohammad Shajari, Shavardazi, Salar Aghapour, Bagher Mohammadi.

Coach: Nazem Al-Sharia

GOALS: 9'06" p.t. Gui (IT), 11'02" Caponigro (IT), 19'00" and 19'49" Abbasi (IR), 5'06" s.t. Nicolodi (IT), 8'14" De Oliveira (IT), 16'12" Abbasi (IR)

Yellow cards: Murilo (IT), Arillo (IT)

NOTES: al 12'03" s.t. Merlim (IT) fails a free throw

REFEREES: Dario Pezzuto (ITA), Giulia Colombin (ITA), Simone Zanfino (ITA) CRONO: Giovanni Zannola (ITA)