Major crises averted in Iran’s football.

Finally, the potential major crises and suspension of Iranian FFIRI was defused, after a government spoke person confirmed that the Football federation is a special case under the international governing Body and is except from parliament or government orders.

Therefore, Mehdi Taj will remain as the President of Iran’s football federation and can only be replaced by the processes governing elections after the end of term. The retirement laws will not apply to Mehdi Taj who has repeatedly declared that he will follow government or parliament laws, but in private, he has informed both AFC and FIFA of the prevailing situation and the impact of the ruling on him prompting AFC to issue a hands-off warning to Iranian authorities.

However, the rest of the personnel of FFIRI who are on government pension scheme but also members of FFIRI various committees are not as lucky as Mehdi Taj. Mohammad Reza Saket, Secretary General of the Football Federation, Abdol-Kazem Taleghani, Haidar Baharvand, Mahmoud Islamiyan, Fereydoun Esfahanian and Ali Kaffashian  must resign because of their retirement. These people are supposed to announce their resignation at the Football Federation Assembly in order to identify their successors.
The 58 years old Mehdi Taj has replaced Ali Kaffashian on 7th May 2016. The latter is serving as his deputy in a role reversal!