FFIRI’s desperate attempt to find an opponent for Team Melli practice match in Tehran, hit another snag. Zimbabwe was selected to play against Team Melli in Azadi on the 12th Nov. However, this same country has already arranged a friendly match against Morocco on the 16th and hence FIFA refused to allow this match to proceed.
According to FIFA Rules regulating international matches and to avoid excessive fatigue on players on their return to club duties after their international break or FIFA day , a team cannot play two consecutive matches in two different continents , unless 3 days minimum has elapsed and a maximum of not more than 5 hours flying between the two venues is flown.
Based on Zimbabwe schedule, the request by FFIRI for the issue of clearance for international match was denied.
FFIRI are known to have arbitrary, knee-jerk reaction in arranging international matches. After all these years in office, the personnel there have yet to master the mechanism of arranging friendly matches. They also seem to have less regards to long term planning and scheduling preferring to deal with international friendly matches in an auction style. This would be in form of finding the cheapest and first available teams to play with in the quickest time possible. Failure to arrange matches, like most frequently , they blame the lack of time for such let down.
Team Melli is arranging a training camp for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2015.