Mehdi Taj, the head of the football federation admitted that the people of Iran want a foreign coach for Team Melli, but they should also consider domestic options.

Mehdi Taj also commented on the withdrawal of two Iranian coaches (Ghalenoei and Tartar) from the race to occupy the head coach seat in the national team. ” the federation should use its best capacities and our duty was to invite capable coaches. If a head coach does not consider himself ready, the federation will use its other options. Of course, in the survey, people declared their preference for a foreign coach, but we have good coaches inside the country who can manage the national team under them.”

In response to the question, of whether he held a meeting with the Reublic’s vice president Mr. Mokhbir? Taj said:  “We should use all the support that the government awards us to make the best decision. We were also looking forward to meeting Mr. Mokhbir. As for the Team Melli coach. we have both domestic and foreign options, but we have not reached a conclusion yet. If we form the national team today, we will not be able to provide a player to the new head coach because the players are busy with the League. We have 2 friendly games in March and we will introduce the head coach before the 19th of March. All Football stakeholders including the players are aware of our limitations.”

Taj was asked, “who are the foreign nominees for the Head Coach Job? and is Felix Sanchez, the former head coach of the Qatar national team amongst them?”
In response, he said: “Iranian nominees have been publicized. We are also considering foreign coaches and one of them is the former head coach of Qatar (Felix Sanchez). We also have a number of domestic coaches. The national team is the place of the best and the best will be selected for Team Melli.

“What about foreign currency restrictions and the exchange rate situation, will they have no problem hiring a foreign coach under the circumstances? Taj said: “We will have problems transferring money and paying in hard currency. Also, we don’t want to fall into the same trap as we did with the Wilmots case, and we shouldn’t delay the payment. FIFA rules stipulate the contracts must be honored and not be breached.” Taj added: “If the salary is not paid for three months and the plaintiff complains to FIFA, he can take all the money due to him for the remainder of the contract period. Based on this clause. Stramaccioni, Calderon, Wilmots, and Branco Ivankovic used this ruling to claim all the money and we don’t want to get into this problem. We must be sure that we can fully provide this money. If we are not sure, we will definitely go for the domestic option.