Amir Ghalenoei, who is on the verge of turning 60, was appointed by the Football Federation as the new head coach of Team Melli as the replacement for Carlos Queiroz.
After 13 years of foreign coaches on the bench of the national team, an Iranian was selected. Afshin Ghotbi , and Mansourian on a caretaker basis, were the last of the Iranians who coached Team Melli. Ghotbi failed to achieve success with Iran in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup as South Korea ended the Iranian dream in the quarter-finals. Alireza Mansourian briefly took over the leadership of the national team for only one game against Russia. After this, the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz took over to begin his long reign of coaching in 2011.
Queiroz has since taken Iran to 5 major tournaments, of which were 3 FIFA World Cups and two AFC Asian Cups between 2011 and briefly in 2022. The Portuguese who was a difficult character off the field and a strong advocate of a defensive game was a divisive figure among the fans. Some truly believed in him despite his failures in major tournaments, while others thought of him as the major stumbling block to the development of football in Iran.
Post-FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qata, the FFIRI has approached many coaches including, the former Qatar coach Sanches. However, to the surprise of many, Amir Ghalenoei, who has earlier announced that he is out of the race for the Team Melli head coach, was chosen ahead of the rest.
Ghalenoei succeeded Branko Ivanković to become the head coach of Iran on 17th July 2006. He took over while the team was preparing for the AFC Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers. In these preliminaries, he won four games and drew two to qualify for the finals.
In AFC Asian Cup 2007, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Iran under Ghalenoei qualified for the quarter-final stage as the top team from the group consisting of China, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan, winning two and drawing with China.
In the quarter-finals, Iran lost again to its nemesis South Korea in penalty kicks to miss out on reaching the semi-finals. After the AFC Asian Cup 2007, Ghalenoei resigned from his post. his well-respcted record with Iran stood as
| Played | Won | Draw | Loss | GF | Ga | GD |
| 17 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 30 | 12 | +18 |
Ghalenoei (born on 21st November 1963) is the most successful national coach in Iran’s domestic league history winning titles with Esteghlal and Sepahan winning a total of five championships and two Hazfi Cup titles. He also managed Tractor.
17 years later, Ghalenoei has another shot to make a name at the international level with Team Melli. There is only one accomplishment that will give him legendary status, and that is lifting the ultimate trophy, the Asian Cup which has eluded Iran for 47 years and counting.
However, Ghaqlenoei comes with by now so familiar heavy baggage of Iranian coaches. The main problem is his demeanor after defeats. He seems to be in denial and lacks the integrity to focus on himself and his players, instead, he diverts the ball to others blaming them for his team’s defeats, particularly the referees. He is also not a stranger to conspiracy theories making up stories about plots and other rhetorics.
Ghalenoei also had a short temper during his first stint with Team Melli. His antic at the touchline, his anger, and his constant protests led to his dismissal in a group match. Hopefully, with advancing age, it is hoped that he has mellowed down a bit.
Overall, this Coach is capable of leading and winning with notable man-management skills. He handles his players well and can influence them positively. Although the federation was hinting at the appointment of a domestic coach, there were fears amongst the fans as the majority preferred foreign coaches. With the appointment of Ghalenoei, it is hoped that many would change that view.
Alas, people should not forget that financial constraints were the main reason for selecting a domestic coach.
Amir Galenoei will be leading Team Melli against Russia on the 23rd of March and then Iraq in the next two friendly games.
