Tag: Boavista

Alireza Beiranvand rejoins Persepolis

After an initial agreement with Alireza Beiranvand, Persepolis Club was able to finalize and sign a contract with Team Melli.

Last week, the news of Alireza Beiranvand’s definitive return to Persepolis was published, and now this return has been confirmed by signing an official contract. Beiranvand signed with Persepolis for two seasons and thus returns to Tehran after an unsuccessful presence in the Royal Antwerp of Belgium and Boavista of Portugal.  By signing the contract, Yahya Golmohammadi’s mind is at ease as far as the goalkeeping post is concerned for next season.

It is possible that Beiranvand is going to oust Hamed Lak although the management has denied such a claim. Accordingly, Biranvand not only can not comment on other Persepolis goalkeepers but also will not have the right to comment on the selection of the team’s goalkeeping coach. Also, Payam Niazmand, who was said to be one of Persepolis’ options for the team’s goal, now has been dropped from Yahya Golmohammadi’s shopping list. Beiranvand hopes to secure a starting place in Team Melli for the World Cup by playing regularly, a thing that he could not achieve in Europe, Also, Beiranvand was dropped as a starter by Skocic after some shaky performances for Team Melli and replaced by Amir Abedzadeh. However, Abedzadeh’s blunder against South Korea handed the goalkeeping post back to Beiranvand against Lebanon.

Details of Alireza Beiranvand’s return to Persepolis

Alireza Beiranvand’s separation from Persepolis did not last more than two seasons.

Beiranvand, who joined Royal Antwerp FC in the Belgian First Division in the summer of 2020, after going through an unsuccessful period in this team, preferred to transfer to the Portuguese team Boavista on loan to have a better chance of playing and gain a new experience. His main objective, however, was to become the first choice keeper.

The Team Melli keeper who lost his place to Amir Abedzadeh became a bench goalkeeper for Boavista as well and played only 9 games for the team in one season so his dreams of shining in European football would be very short-lived. At the end of this season in Portugal, the Boavista club refused to activate the € 1 million clause in Beiranvand’s contract so that the Iranian goalkeeper could return back to his club Antwerp; At the same time, he saw Persepolis Club as a serious destination again.

Beiranvand, whose contract with Antwerp is for another season, announced that he would prefer to go to a team where he could play in the year of the World Cup. As a bench keeper, his selection for Team Melli will be in serious doubt otherwise. In the meantime; What better team than Persepolis, which is both a customer of his and can play in the team to regain his place in Team Melli’s starting line-up.

It is believed that the Royal Antwerp FC initially demanded 1 million and later reduced it to 700 thousand Euros as a release fee for the transfer of Beiranvand to the penniless Persepolis club. Shortly afterward, it was announced that Antwerp had agreed to give Beiranvand to Persepolis for less than this amount. Meanwhile, a Belgian media reported that Beiranvand’s transfer from Antwerp would not cost Persepolis any money. However, Antwerp will not pay anything to the goalkeeper from the remaining amount of Beiranvand’s contract, which is apparently a significant amount.

The news site nieuwsblad reported the news and wrote: “You may have forgotten him before, but Alireza Beiranvand (29) will normally return to Antwerp this summer. The Iranian goalkeeper was hired by Boavista, who did not use the option of buying him for one million euros. However, there is no prospect of the goalkeeper returning to Antwerp. He is about to sign a contract with his former club Persepolis.” The website added “Persepolis does not have to pay for Beiranvand’s transfer, but the fact that his high wages (and the significant amount of his contract signing) will be lost is positive for Antwerp,” the report said.

Team Melli complexion is changing rapidly.

After the transfer of Sepahan’s and Team Melli Captain Ehsan Hajsafi to AEK Athens, Iran has just five players playing in the domestic Persian Gulf league. That puts Iran among the group of countries whose majority of the national team players play abroad. These countries, including World Cup holder France and FIFA Top ranking team Belgium, have only a few footballers that are based at home.

With the conclusion of the 2020/21 season of the Persian Gulf League in which Persepolis won the title for the fifth time in a row, 3 significant transfers were confirmed. Hossein Kanani from Al Ahli of Qatar from Persepolis, Payam Niazmand to Portimonense of Portugal, and Ehsan Hajsafi to AEK Greece from Sepahan, the last 23-man squad of Team Melli home-based players reduced to five only,

Vahid Amiri,  Milad Sarlak, Ahmad Nourollahi, Mehdi Torabi (all Persepolis), and Mehdi Ghaedi (Esteghlal) are the only players present in the World Cup qualifiers who are based in Iran. As for the latter player, Mehdi Ghaedi, his suitors have increased since his brilliant performance in AFC Champions League. Farhad Majidi announced a while ago, that he will not stop Ghaedi from seeking his fortunes in other pastures to improve his standard, which means the possible transfer of the best current talent in Iranian football to a foreign club.

The full list of Team Melli with 19 players

Team Melli legionnaires also include the following players who were not part of the squad for the return legs of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, who could be possibly invited to the next stage of qualifiers. These 6 players are as follow

In total 25 (83%) players are legionnaires out of 30

It is quite possible that under these circumstances, Iran will probably not have any players from domestic league playing for the country in the national team for several years to come, and there will be no trace of the old superiority and total control of Team Melli squad by the to poles of Iran football, Esteghlal, and Persepolis.

Several years ago, at the time of the decline of the domestic leagues of France and Belgium, all the players of these two powerful national teams were players working outside the domestic leagues. It seems that no player from the Belgian league was in the Red Devils’ starting line-up at Euro 2020 this year, and that was the case in France before the re-emergence of Paris Saint-Germain in France as one of the top teams in Europe.

The standard of Iran’s domestic league has fallen quite badly in the last few years due to several factors. Total government hegemony on clubs, chronic incompetent management, nepotism, poor coaching, politics, lack of resources, favoritism, corruption, and exceptional indiscipline have all resulted in a league that is relegated in the AFC Asian ranking to mid tables.

Iranian clubs have never won the AFC Champions League and the last time a club from Iran won a trophy was back in 1990/91 when Esteghlal won the Asian Club Championship, the predecessor of Champions League.

Beiranvand signs for the Portuguese side Boavista

Boavista is about to reinforce its goalkeeping with the signing of the Iranian international goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand in a deal that involves a loan with a purchase option, according to Maisfutebol .

The 28-year-old player, Iran’s regular first-team player, left Antwerp’s camp this Wednesday to travel to Portugal until the end of the week.

Beiranvand was the goalkeeper who defended Iran’s colors at the 2018 World Cup and who saved a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo, in the match between Iran and Portugal in the group stage of the competition, in Russia.

Last season, Beiranvand played 12 games for Antwerp, in his first season with the Belgian club.

In his native country, Alireza Beiranvand represented Naft Tehran from 2011 to 2016, having then moved to Persepolis, from 2016 to 2020, in a club where she played with Mehdi Taremi, current FC Porto forward. He has 44 games for the national team.

The player’s manager shared a photo this evening on social media with the signing of a contract with Boavista.