Tag: Andrea Stramaccioni

Andrea Stramaccioni turns down Team Melli post.

The former head coach of Esteghlal Club has turned down an offer from FFIRI to coach  Team Melli while wishing the current coaching staff of  Iran national football team all the success.

 According to ISNA, in recent days, reports in the social media about Andrea Stramaccioni occupying the bench of Team Melli was so strong amongst the fans, which prompted FFIRI to issue a denial. However, Andrea Stramaccioni’s agent has confirmed such talks between the two sides by posting in social media, stressing that Stramaccioni had rejected the offer to coach the Iranian national team.

The Italian Andrea Stramaccioni started coaching Esteghlal Tehran from 13th June 2019  on a two-year contract up to June 2021

However, six months into his contract on 8th December, Stramaccioni resigned his post in  Esteghlal as the club failed to pay the wages of the coaching staff, a practice that is quite common in Iranian clubs and the football federation FFIRI.

The usual excuse is the sanctions and restrictions on money transfer !!

On the other hand, FFIRI has already employed the Croat coach Dragan Skocic as the head coach of Team Melli. Due to the COVID-19 endemic, however, he was unable to lead the team in any match so far

The signing of Dragan Skocic has raised a lot of issues and suspicions amongst players and experts with many contending that the Ministry of Sports has forced the Croat on the federation!

 While the bets were on Ali Daei, Amir Ghalenoei or Yahya Golmohammadi to take the job, Dragan Skocic popped out of nowhere to get the post without having coached any National Teams in his career.

Gianni De Biasi close to becoming Team Melli’s new coach

After the years spent on Albania’s bench, achieving a historic qualification for the 2016 European Championships, Gianni De Biasi is ready to start again for another national team.

After the unfortunate and unhappy experience of Andrea Stramaccioni with Esteghlal Club, it seems that another Italian is ready to land in Iran. This time it is Gianni De Biasi who is very close to becoming the coach of Iran’s Team Melli.

As reported by Gianluca Di Marzio, the former Albanian coach has received an offer of a 30 months contract, with the aim of qualification to the World Cup for which the Iranian national team is competing. The deal could be closed within 48 hours.

Gianni De Biasi is ready for a new adventure at the head coach of a national team. The coach, 64 years old in June, is in fact ever closer to the agreement to become the Iran coach. The Iranian Federation offered him a 30-month contract, also thinking about the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. Iran has participated in 5 World Cups and has qualified for the last two played in Brazil and Russia (2014 and 2018) in addition to three championships in the AFC Asian Cup (in the last edition of 2019 the Iranian national team was stopped in the semifinals). The deal should be closed by the end of the week.

A new adventure after Albania

For De Biasi it would be the second experience on a bench of a national team. In fact, the coach led Albania from 2011 to 2017, leading to a historic qualification for the 2016 European Championships. A success that made him become a real idol in Tirana, so much so that he was awarded the honorary Albanian citizenship

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (L), the captain of Albania's national soccer team, Lorik Cana (C) and Albania's national football team head coach Gianni De Biasi review an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at Mother Teresa airport in Tirana on June 23, 2016. Albania's Euro 2016 squad was welcomed home on June 23 with a formal red-carpet ceremony and National Guard troops on its return from the country's first ever participation at a European Championship. / AFP / GENT SHKULLAKU (Photo credit should read GENT SHKULLAKU / AFP via Getty Images)

FFIRI contemplating an Iranian coach for Team Melli.

The FFIRI has been negotiating secretly with several Iranian coaches in search of a new coach to take over the incredibly challenging task of coaching Team Melli.

Although the football federation as customary keeps denying such reports, it is not a secret that Ali Daei, Yayha Golmohammadi, and Amir Ghalenoei have been approached and talks have been carried out. Ali Daei is always a candidate for the job, but Daei’s standing and achievements have not been at its best lately. He was last fired from Saipa Alborz after failing to meet the expectations of the club board. Daei has turned down many job offers lately since then.

Ghalenoei coaching in Asian Cup 2007

Yahaya Golmohammadi, unlike the other two, has never coached Team Melli and is the least experienced the lot, however, he seemed to have an excellent chance to take the post. And then Persepolis comes calling and grabs  Yahya right under the nose of the FFIRI. Golmohammadi has been offered a return to his old club replacing the Argentine Calderon. Perspolis seems to have a contractual dispute with their coach with Calderon refusing to return back to the club.

Sepahan’s Head Coach Amir Ghalenoei seems to be in the lead to sit on the bench of Team Melli. His records with clubs are second to none. He is by far the most successful Iranian coach In the history of the league with 5 championship titles. He also coached Team Melli during the AFC Asian Cup 2007.

But Ghalenoei is driving a hard bargain. He has a bitter experience working for the federation. He is aware of how his paymasters can turn on him and deny him support.  This time, the former coach of Esteghlal, Tractorsazi, Zob Ahan, and Sepahan wants to ensure that such experience is not repeated.  Ghalenoei is giving the FFIRI all the strict conditions upon which he will only accept the offer including a handsome numeration package similar to the foreign coaches and complete say on the selection of the technical assistance and training crew.

FFIRI administrators and managers have hinted many times that the next Team Melli coach will be a foreigner, although local coaches are not being ruled out either. However, with the recent developments, the reputation of this federation and their habitual tendency to breach contracts with their employees, it will be very difficult to imagine a foreign coach agreeing to work for this federation unless he is very desperate. After the experiences and well-publicized hardships of Marc Wilmots, Branko Ivankovic, Gabriel Calderon and Andrea Stramaccioni amongst others, it is unlikely that we will see a foreign coach leading Team Melli any time soon.

FFIRI and the Iranian clubs’ justification for not paying their foreign coaches and/or players is the American sanctions on financial dealings and money transfer. The questions remain, however, if this is indeed the reason, then why offer jobs to foreigners knowing that they cannot be paid properly and regularly?

With Ghalenoei negotiations with FFIRI still in progress; Sepahan will have a tough time replacing Ghalenoei if he leaves. The Esfahani club has a good chance of grabbing the title this season and the departure of their coach will definitely impact the team chances of winning the Persian Gulf Pro League.