Ali Kaffashian was in Khuzestan on a visit when reporters quizzed him about the current issues related to Team Melli and its future coaching situation.
The question of Carlos Queiroz remaining with Team Melli and whether his contract will be extended , was once again asked. In response , Kaffashian said “The management committee of the football federation has come to a conclusion that Carlos Queiroz is a competent coach and hence we have decided to offer him an extension of the contract. Queiroz has asked for an increase for himself and his assistants in the new contract. The additional fees will come to around US$ 5 or 6 million. Since we have a large number of national teams at different levels and age groups and many other expenses that we already have difficulty to finance, we really cannot afford to pay the extra that is demanded by him. Of course, if we do not come to an agreement , Queiroz will leave and we have to find an alternative coaching team. Saying that however, nothing is certain as we speak!”
[quote]I think it is worth it for the government to provide us a budget to renew Queiroz contract[/quote]
ISNA reporter asked if this uncertainty regarding Team Melli coaching staff is an issue of concern to his administration and himself, the Head of IRIFF said that in any case, we have to work within our limit. There are league clubs that have not worked around their limitation and hence have accumulated huge debts that they cannot deal with. We have to properly manage our finance if we need to renew the contract with Queiroz so as not to harm the rest of our activities including the national teams.
“I think it is worth it for the government to provide us a budget to renew Queiroz contract. When we signed the initial contract, the Ministry of Youth and Sports promised to financially assist us and partially bear the amount of contract, but this has not happened. If the government is willing to bankroll the extension of contract, then we will agree to Queiroz new terms.”
Neither Kaffashian nor his administration hardly ever talk about the federation’s plans and strategy in generating its own revenue to self-finance its activities. Instead , the IRIFF always prefer to pass the hat around looking for handouts or seek the government aid from the public coffer. With the inflation at its highest in Iran and difficulties of normal Iranian families to make ends meet and proceed with their daily life, it is outrageous for Kaffashian and his administration to seek millions of dollars from the public funds to spend on coaches. During Nowrooz, the issue of Iranian footballer’s contracts has surfaced to the discontent of many ordinary citizens.
The same situation exists with the clubs. While clubs spend multimillion tomans and even into the billions tomans on contract fees with the professional footballers , only a small fraction of this money is actually self-generated by the clubs , while mostly the source of such money is from government or government-owned organization.